Bengaluru:”Dasara is over and Deepavali has come. Farmers are in crisis. The government is committed to bringing light into their lives. It has been decided to give Rs 5,000 compensation per drought-hit farmer. Now in the first phase, Rs 2,500 is being directly transferred to farmers through DBT. The remaining Rs 2,500 will be released in coming days,” said Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
He was speaking on Thursday after releasing Rs 17.43 crore as first instalment of input subsidy at Rs 2,500 per farmer to 1,06,462 farmers of Yadgir district, at the committee room in Vidhana Soudha.
Second Instalment Soon:”In addition, payment file preparation is in progress for 15 districts – Uttara Kannada, Kolar, Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Dharwad, Ballari, Bidar, Bengaluru City, Haveri, Bengaluru South, Davanagere, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Mandya and Vijayanagara. The first instalment will be disbursed to eligible farmers in all districts as soon as possible. The second instalment will be released in next 15-20 days. Government is committed to improving farmers’ lives. We cannot claim government relief will fully help, but some support is being provided,” he said.
“As per revised norms, the remaining approved input subsidy will be released in one instalment immediately after required grant is received from NDRF, subject to applicable eligibility criteria. In our lifetime, we have never heard of such severe drought. Even after Centre’s forecast, no dam except Krishna is full,” he said.
Drought-Hit Taluks Declared Within Legal Framework:“As per joint crop damage assessment report, crop loss occurred in 57.93 lakh hectares in the state. Farmers are distressed due to this calamity. While declaring 226 taluks as drought-hit, report was prepared after direct verification as per Centre’s guidelines, without yielding to any pressure. I declared drought-hit taluks as per law, after obtaining approval from Revenue Minister and DCM,” he said.
Politics More Important For Opposition:“Three teams sent by Centre have visited drought-hit areas in state. Even when we wanted to discuss with opposition parties, politics was more important for them. To protect farmers’ interest, we visited three divisions and worked to instill confidence,” he said.
Centre’s Duty To Rush To Farmers’ Aid:“Report has been sent to Centre that state suffered loss of Rs 62,000 crore due to drought, and it is Centre’s duty to rush to farmers’ aid. Rs 2,000 crop compensation was announced in Assembly, and Rs 22,400 crore relief has been sought from Centre. We have sought time to meet Prime Minister. We have said we will take all-party delegation. We have also asked all parties to come with us and put pressure on Centre. What they will do next is not known,” ,”57 lakh hectares of crops have been destroyed. After Rajasthan, Karnataka has the largest dry land area in the country. There is difficulty even for drinking water. Rs 20,000 crore was being given for free electricity to farmers. Due to drought, power consumption increased and now Rs 30,000 crore has to be given. Even after paying money, situation of non-availability of power has arisen,” he explained.
During the event, he interacted with Yadgir farmers through video conference. Farmers thanked him for releasing compensation. There is hope that opposition will come for talks with Centre for drought relief and help, he said.
