BJP urges Congress govt to conduct another survey to assess crop loss in flood-hit areas of Karnataka

Belagavi: The BJP on Monday urged the Congress government to conduct a fresh survey to accurately estimate the extent of crop loss in flood-hit districts. Legislators of the saffron party said that farmers in some areas had complained about their losses being underestimated.  

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said that, while the state government’s figures claimed that crops across 14.58 lakh hectares had been damaged, the BJP’s state-wide survey had found that the damage was spread across 38.71 lakh hectares. Chalavadi said that the BJP’s figures were based on information received from the farmers. “Furthermore, instead of the Rs 2.4 lakh being paid in compensation to those whose houses have collapsed, Rs 5 lakh must be paid in accordance with the norms of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force,” he said.

However, Leader of the House in the Council and Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju disputed Chalavadi’s figures, alleging that his claims were ‘politically motivated’. Boseraju informed the Council that there was an established process for carrying out the survey.

Chalavadi also called out the government on the delay in disbursing compensation to farmers who had lost their crops, besides questioning the state’s failure in opening procurement centres for crops, which he said had plunged farmers of North Karnataka in distress.

Centre or state: Who’s to blame

BJP and Congress MLCs, meanwhile, sparred over the payment of Fair and Remunerative Price for sugarcane farmers. While BJP leaders such as C T Ravi contended that the Congress had betrayed farmers, Congress leaders, including ministers Chaluvarayaswamy, Santosh Lad and Shivaraj Tangadagi, blamed the BJP-led Centre for not extending assistance to the state.

Ravi lamented the fact that the state stood second in number of farmer suicides, besides decrying the delay in completion of irrigation projects. He urged the government to re-introduce the addition of Rs 4,000 for each beneficiary under the PM Kisan Samman Yojana, besides calling for raising the quantum of interest-free loans to farmers up to Rs 10 lakh.

Crest gates at TB Dam

Responding to BJP MLCs who questioned the delay in the installation of new crest gates at the Tungabhadra Dam, Boseraju said that the Tungabhadra Board was administered by the Centre. “The state government is only contributing a portion of the expenses. Of the total cost of Rs 32 crore, the state has disbursed Rs 10 crore...It will take 15 months for work to finish,” he said.