Bengaluru, Sep 24 (PIT) With the state reeling under a severe drought, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said that an all-party delegation will visit Delhi, possibly to meet central ministers on the issue of a relief package to tide over the crisis.
The delegation will seek interim assistance from the Centre, even as the number of drought-hit taluks has crossed 200, he said.
“Definitely, an all-party delegation will go,” the CM told reporters here.
He stressed that the state would seek maximum interim relief from the Centre.
Shivakumar said the state was facing a serious situation, with farmers losing crops, water and power. He said power demand had reached 20,000 MW and claimed some states were purchasing electricity at Rs 20-23 per unit.
He said he had directed the Power Department to ensure that consumers were protected from the impact of high electricity costs.
The government was examining restrictions on sugar factories selling power instead of supplying it to the state, he added.
The chief minister said coal stocks for thermal power generation had fallen to about one day and urged caution in managing the situation.
On a Finance Department note advising austerity amid the drought and financial pressures, Shivakumar said such cautions were routinely issued during successive governments.
“It is the duty of the Finance Department to give caution after looking at the overall situation,” Shivakumar, who holds the Finance portfolio, said.
Shivakumar noted that the drought could lead to financial pressures on the state and country.
Responding to Opposition criticism that the state economy was in a poor state, Shivakumar said it was easy to criticise a government but difficult to implement projects while in power.
Shivakumar had earlier urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release of 50 per cent of the state’s drought relief memorandum amount as interim financial assistance, citing the worsening situation across the state.
In a letter to Modi, he recalled his September 10 communication seeking Rs 3,705.30 crore in assistance for immediate drought relief measures in 101 drought-declared taluks.
(PTI News)
