‘Must rise above political differences’: Kharge writes to PM Modi with six demands over Karnataka drought | India News
NEW DELHI: Amid a drought situation in his home state of Karnataka, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, listing six demands and stressing that the BJP-led Centre and the Congress-led state government must “rise above their differences” in view of the situation.“The state is facing one of its gravest drought situations in recent years, with a 58% rainfall deficiency as of September, widespread crop losses and severe distress for lakhs of farming families,” Kharge wrote on X, sharing his letter.He said the Karnataka government had sought Rs 3,705.30 crore in assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) framework against estimated losses of Rs 18,748.23 crore.Kharge’s six demands are:
- Central team: Deploy a central team to Kalyana Karnataka, a region in northeastern Karnataka, to verify the drought damage.
- Full assistance: Sanction and release the full amount sought by Karnataka under NDRF and SDRF norms without arbitrary reductions.
- Input subsidy: Calculate input subsidies for small and marginal farmers using Karnataka’s updated land records instead of the 2015-16 Agriculture Census.
- Drinking water: Enhance support for drinking water security and the cost of substitute power.
- Farmer relief: Release assistance keeping in mind the scale of distress faced by more than 31 lakh farming families across the state.
- Additional taluks: Treat the 11 taluks undergoing Ground Truthing, along with any further qualifying taluks, as a single continuing drought event for central assistance.
“Drought relief is a humanitarian imperative and must rise above political differences between the Centre and the state. I hope the Government of India will act with urgency and compassion and extend timely assistance to Karnataka, providing much-needed sustenance, fodder, water and livelihood security to millions of affected citizens,” Kharge said.
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He added that he had also written to Union Home minister Amit Shah seeking the same intervention.Karnataka has been seeking central assistanch amid a worsening drought situation. Recent reports said the state had declared 177 taluks drought-affected, while ground-truthing was underway in additional areas. The state had initially sought Rs 3,705.30 crore for the 101 drought-affected taluks.
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