Nirmala Sitharaman rejects Congress govt's charges, says nothing pending from Centre to Karnataka

Bengaluru: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has denied that the Centre was holding drought relief for Karnataka.

During a media briefing after her visit to a Jan Aushadhi Kendra in Yeshwantpur, she was asked about the purported delay in releasing funds to the state government to tackle drought.

In her response, she described the allegation “without any facts”. “The state government can throw the allegation (but the truth) is even before the (CM’s) letter reached me, it was on social media,” she stated.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused union ministers of not giving an appointment to the state government ministers to discuss drought relief. He suggested that revenue and agriculture ministers from Karnataka had gone to Delhi but could not meet the union ministers.

According to Nirmala, during her meeting with Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, she explained that necessary money would be given. She said the quantum of drought relief was decided by a high-powered committee of the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) headed by the union home minister.

“An assessment/technical team has made recommendations on drought relief to the high-powered committee. It’s due to the state and will be given,” she said. “It’s not as if the money won’t come.”

Nirmala, a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, stressed that “nothing is pending” from the Centre to state and suggested that the state government hadn’t sent the requisite papers to process the payments.

“I keep waiting for the papers but the state doesn’t send them. I can’t send money without the authorisation of the accountant general,” she explained.

Jan Aushadhi Kendra

Lauding the government’s efforts to provide medicines at subsidised prices, Nirmala said that the centres were growing popular among the people.

“Over the last nine years, the number of Jan Aushadi Kendras across the country has increased significantly,” she said. Close to 1,800 medicines and 285 surgical equipment are available at these centres for up to 70 per cent discount, she added.