Drought: MP demands special package for Karnataka

Congress MP Dhruvanarayana on Wednesday urged the Centre to sanction a special financial package to Karnataka to take steps towards providing a permanent solution in drought-hit areas in the state.

Participating in a debate on ‘Drought and Drinking Water Situation the Country’ in Lok Sabha, he urged the Centre to extend all assistance to tackle the drought in the state.

“The state has highest number of drought-hit areas, next only to Rajasthan,” he added.
Dhruvanarayana, who represents Chamarajanagar constituency in Lok Sabha, demanded that the Centre to approve Rs 12,000 crore additional central financial assistance sought by the Karnataka government to take up drought-proof programmes in the state.

While urging the the Union government to waive agriculture loan borrowed by farmers from nationalised banks, he said the government should announce minimum support price for all agriculture produce.

He also suggested that the Government of India must sanction more funds to the state under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to provide jobs to agriculture labourers during drought.