No discrimination in flood relief, says CMO

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's office clarified on Monday that the government had not discriminated against north Karnataka districts while releasing Rs 200 crore towards flood relief.

Last week, the government released Rs 200 crore to 21 flood-hit districts.

Former ministers M B Patil and Eshwar Khandre took exception saying Vijayapura, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Yadgir had been left out.

Responding to their tweets, the chief minister's office (CMO) specified that the release of Rs 200 crore was based on availability of funds.

"Funds are being released based on availability of funds for flood relief in the personal deposit accounts of deputy commissioners. Till August 2, the Vijayapura DC had Rs 28.5 crore in the PD account. It must be noted that the other 21 districts have lesser than Vijayapura. There is no discrimination in flood relief," the CMO said in a tweet to Patil.

Similarly, the CMO pointed out that Bidar DC had Rs 20.45 crore, Kalaburagi Rs 42.07 crore and Yadgir Rs 25.14 crore. This was in response to Khandre.

In a series of tweets, Patil said heavy rains had affected several people in Vijayapura. "Shockingly, state Govt (sic) has not announced any compensation to Vijayapura," he said. Threatening to stage a protest, Patil asked the government to release compensation for Vijayapura. "The State Govt. appears to be dead for the people of the district leaving them in a feeling of orphaned.," he said.

Khandre, in his own tweets, said distribution of flood relief funds showed the BJP government's "step-motherly treatment" towards the Kalyana Karnataka region.

"Due to incessant rains in Bidar and Kalaburagi, several monsoon crops such as togari, soyabean, hesaru, urad and others have been completely destroyed," Khadre said, demanding compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare to farmers of Bidar and Kalaburagi.