Publish white paper on drought relief works, Jagadish Shettar tells government

BELAGAVI: Alleging that the state government has completely failed in tackling drought, oppostion leader in the assembly Jagadish Shettar demanded the state government to publish a white paper on how much fund has been released and spent on drought relief works.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the drought affected areas in parts of the district here on Tuesday, Shettar, said while hundreds of villages in Belagavi district are facing acute shortage of drinking water, only one village is being supplied with tanker water.The government has not yet set up fodder banks and Goshala in the district.
“These are the information provided by the officials. It shows how negligent the state government is,’’ he added.
He said that the state government has claimed that it has set up 7,000 safe drinking water units across the state. But in reality, most of them are not functioning. The multi village schemes have also failed, he alleged.
Referring to chief minster Siddaramaiah’s statement that the state government will waive off farm loans if the Centre shares 50% of the burden, Shettar, said, “We have been asking him to give us the data on how much loan the farmers have availed so that we can put pressure on the Centre. But till today we have not got the data.”
He said that the government has lost grip over the administration due to which incidents like molestation of women in Bengaluru, rape of a mentally challenged woman by an ASI in Tumkuru are happening.
When asked if the party will take action against its MLA Raju Kage whose family members attacked a Congress worker on the New Year day, Shettar said police should take action against Kage if he is found guilty and the party will not take any action against him.