Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah stages dharna against Center's 'negligence' in drought relief

Karnataka CM and leaders protest over inadequate drought relief funds from the union government. They claim to have been "cheated" with only a quarter of the requested funds being released, despite declaring 226 Taluks as drought-hit and crop loss in 48 lakh hectares.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar along with several ministers and legislators on Sunday staged a dharna here, alleging injustice done to the state by the union government while releasing the drought relief funds.

Holding 'Chombu', a water pot symbolising emptiness and deception, the leaders charged the Centre with ''cheating'' Karnataka by not releasing adequate relief to face acute drought, the kind of which was not witnessed in the past several decades.

They held the symbolic dharna in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises of ''Vidhana Soudha'', which houses the Legislature and Secretariat.

The state government has declared 226 out of the total 236 Taluks in Karnataka as drought-hit and said there was a crop loss in 48 lakh hectares of land.

According to Siddaramaiah, against the demand for Rs 18,171 crore for drought relief, the union government ordered release of only Rs 3,454 crore, that too after the state approached the Supreme Court.

The amount was not even a quarter of the state's demand, he noted.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)