CM calls on Rajnath, seeks more funds under SDRF

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, on Monday, urged the Centre to allocate more funds to Karnataka under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).

During his meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief minister said in the past 17 years, the state had faced 13 droughts of varied intensity. The Centre should take steps to allocate more funds to the state to provide relief to the people, Kumaraswamy said.

Karnataka has been allocated only Rs 1,527 crore from 2015-16 to 2019-20 under SDRF, whereas states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have been allocated much bigger funds. Hence, the Centre should take steps to allocate Rs 3,050.72 crore to Karnataka, the chief minister said in his plea. Kumaraswamy urged the home minister that under the 15 Finance Commission, the Centre should take proper steps to ensure highest funds to the state, taking into account the fact that it has the highest number of drought-prone areas.

In a separate meeting with Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, the chief minister urged the Centre to take up highway works in the state, besides sanctoning funds for the construction of peripheral ring roads, outer ring roads and satellite town ring roads to decongest Bengaluru city.

The satellite town ring road will pave the way for the systematic growth of Bengaluru. The 367-km satellite town ring road project also includes individual town ring roads (ITRR), connecting Dobbspet, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Sarjapur, Attibele, Anekal, Kanakapura, Ramanagar and Magadi, the chief minister said in his request.