Karnataka govt moves SC against Centre, seeks release of NDRF grants to tackle drought

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the state government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to immediately release grants under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state, which is witnessing drought-like conditions.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister said, “The Karnataka government had waited for a long time and now, inevitably, we (state government) have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Central government. Centre should immediately release the NDRF fund. The central government has violated laws, for which we have gone to the Supreme Court”, he added.

He further said that 48 lakh hectares of agricultural crops have been damaged in Karnataka due to drought and a total of three memorandums to the Centre had been sent for drought relief. Siddaramiah questioned the ‘delay and inaction’ of the Centre in this matter.

We have approached the Supreme Court to direct the Union Government to immediately release the NDRF funds for the state.

Over the last five months, we have been in a state of limbo, repeatedly assured by the Union Government that our relief funds would be disbursed "today or…

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) March 23, 2024

“After we gave the memorandum, the Central government team came to the state. The team has given a report to Centre about the situation in the state. After receiving this report, they had to take a decision regarding the release of compensation within one month as per law. They have given the report on October 20 last year. After that, our revenue minister and two other ministers went to Delhi to meet the central leaders. They didn’t even give a time slot to meet them. There was delay and inaction on the matter”, the CM said.

Siddaramaiah further mentioned that the situation has not changed even after meeting Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “On December 19, we met the PM and explained to him the drought situation in Karnataka. Then, we met Home Minister Amit Shah also and explained to him the situation of Karnataka. Then, the PM had come to Karnataka, I reminded him of the situation again. But till now, nothing has changed”, he said.

Claiming that “not even a single rupee has come in from Centre” to tackle the drought situation in Karnataka, Siddaramiah said that the state government have released Rs 870 crore to tackle the drought problems. “We have Rs 800 crore remaining to address the problem”, Siddaramiah said, while adding that out of 240 taluks, 220 taluks are drought affected.

The state is facing a severe water crisis, with drought-like conditions resulting in a dip in reservoir levels. Bengaluru is grappling with a shortage of 500 million litres per day (MLD). The current requirement for drinking water as well as commercial use in Bengaluru is 2,600 MLD, of which 1,450 MLD is being pumped from the Cauvery river and about 650 MLD is available from borewells, leading to a shortage of 500 MLD water in the city. (ANI)