Siddaramaiah mounts attack on government over flood relief

Siddaramaiah

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah launched an offensive against the B S Yediyurappa administration in the Legislative Assembly on Monday over its ‘lackadaisical’ handling of consecutive floods in the state.

Speaking on an adjournment motion he moved, Siddaramaiah pointed out that Karnataka had witnessed three spells of floods this year alone, apart from the havoc last year.

“During the 2019-20 floods, your memorandum to the Centre pegged the losses at Rs 35,000 crore. The Centre gave only Rs 1,652 crore. This year, the memorandum is for Rs 2,384 crore, but the Centre has given only Rs 577 crore. Are you satisfied with this,” Siddaramaiah asked.

“Against a total crop loss of Rs 15,000 crore, the state government has given compensation of just Rs 110 crore. Some 50,000 homes were affected, but not a single rupee has been given since August,” Siddaramaiah said.

The Congress leader said the Centre gave Rs 2,707 crore to the poll-bound West Bengal. “Karnataka’s flooding was much more severe than West Bengal’s,” he said.

Contesting this charge, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said West Bengal’s loss estimate was Rs 1.4 lakh crore. “What they should get as per NDRF norms is Rs 5,200 crore, but they got Rs 2,707 crore. It’s not that they got more,” he said.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai pointed out that in 2013 Karnataka had sought Rs 17,000 crore as relief. “The UPA government gave Rs 700 crore as per norms,” he said. “We will study why West Bengal got so much, because the same norms should apply to us.”

Siddaramaiah also pointed out that compensation had still not reached victims of last year’s floods. “About 2.47 lakh homes were damaged, but only 1.24 lakh families were compensated. Another one lakh-plus haven’t received any relief. They’re still without homes, living in sheds,” he said.

The government is expected to reply on the motion Tuesday.