K'taka drags Modi govt to SC over drought relief fund

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the state government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a direction to the Centre to immediately release grants under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state, which is reeling under acute drought.

Accusing the Centre of sitting on Karnataka's pleas for release of funds though there is a severe drought, he said the state government was compelled to approach the apex court.

Karnataka has sought Rs 18,171.44 crore as drought relief.

"Today the Karnataka government filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the Centre after waiting for five months. Since there is vacation for a week in the Supreme Court, we did not get the endorsement. We expect it next week," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

The petition was filed under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution to give directions to the Government of India to release NDR Funds immediately, which was supposed to be released by the Centre according to law, he explained.

"We have declared drought in 223 Taluks out of 236 Taluks in the state. Agricultural crops have been lost in an area of 48 lakh hectares. We sent three memoranda to the Centre in a row but we did not get even a single penny so far," the CM said.

When the union government did not respond, Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishnabyre Gowda went to Delhi but did not get an opportunity to meet the Central Minister.