Govt denies exerting pressure on industries for donation

 The chief minister has called a meeting of industrialists on Thursday with the agenda of motivating more of them to come to rescue of the victims.

IT and BT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu said that so far four major companies have assured of building houses. Infosys and Biocon have pledged to spend Rs 30 crore each to construct houses, while Wipro is expected to show similar gesture. Cisco has promised to build houses worth Rs 50 crore.

“This is the first time that IT/BT companies are showing such a gesture. In their history they had not contributed even a rupee for such relief work. I am very happy with the positive reactions from major companies,” the minister said.

Denying that the government will exert pressure on private companies to contribute funds, the minister said: “How can we do that? We have no control over them. They are independent of the State government. They get concession from the Centre when they operate from special economic zones. They have no obligation towards the State government. But we have appealed them to help in this hour of crisis. About 100 companies have been approached for assistance”, Katta said.

Major Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said that industries have come forward to help and some of them have contributed money. But industries are just recovering from the recession and it is difficult for them too loosen their purse, he added.

The Chief Minister, in addition to interacting with industry captains, will also be addressing representatives of professional educational institutions requesting them to contribute money for relief works. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

Govt norms

Yeddyurappa has said that individual donours and corporates who wish to build houses should do so according to the government norms and on the land provided by the government.

The State government is yet to receive Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre. Till late in the evening on Wednesday the money had not come, according to official sources.

So far the State has released Rs 1,007 crore for the relief works. The Centre’s contribution under the CRF is Rs 104 crore and the State has contributed a matching grant of 25 pc. In addition, the Centre, under the NCCF, has released Rs 83 crore. In anticipation of the Central assistance, the state has released Rs 820 crore.