Pay three-fold compensation to rain and flood-hit farmers: Siddu

Belagavi: Opposition leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday demanded three-fold increase in the compensation to the farmers who suffered crop loss due to excess rain and floods in the state this year since June.

The senior Congress leader also accused the state government of not giving compensation to those whose houses were damaged due to rains two years ago.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister claimed in the Karnataka Assembly that this year standing crops in 35 lakh hectares were damaged whereas compensation has been given for only 12 lakh hectares land while farmers of the remaining 23 lakh hectares did not get any relief. The compensation for unirrigated land and irrigated land is Rs 6,800 and Rs 13,500 per hectare, respectively, Siddaramaiah said.

He also said the compensation is given only for a maximum of two hectares of land to each farmer even if he suffered loss in more than two hectares of land.

“I demand that the compensation be increased three times. The compensation should be Rs 20,400 per hectare for unirrigated land and over Rs 40,000 per hectare for irrigated land,” the Congress leader said.

He said the government has to respond to the sufferings of farmers.

“The youths today are distancing themselves from agriculture. We should not forget that the agriculture has a major share in the GDP growth,” the former Chief Minister pointed out.

He also alleged that the state government has not received adequate financial support from the Centre.

Siddaramaiah recalled that when he was the Chief Minister he ensured that the sugarcane growers received a compensation of Rs 118 crore when there was a price crash. He also claimed that 50 girls from Gokak, Raibagh and Ramdurg in Belagavi district came to him saying that they did not receive any compensation for damage to their houses.

Claiming that 15 lakh houses were built when he was the chief minister, Siddaramaiah alleged that not a single house has been given till now in the last two-and-half years.

When the Transport and ST Welfare Minister B Sriramulu objected to the statement, Siddaramaiah demanded that he should show the work order issued and completed.

The state Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister V Somanna termed Siddaramaiah’s statement as a lie.

He said the state government has given orders to build five lakh houses, which will be completed soon.

Denouncing Somanna’s statement, Siddaramaiah said if at all he was lying, he would resign from the post of Leader of Opposition.

“I will stick to my stand. Documents showed that 15 lakh houses were built when we were in power. We spent over Rs 5,000 crore every year more than the budgetary allocation on housing projects for poor people whereas the BJP reduced the allocation to around Rs 2,000 crore,” Siddaramaiah said.

The former Chief Minister said the state has so far given a compensation of over Rs 700 crore, which he termed inadequate. “The farmers are compelled to commit suicide. On behalf of the people of Karnataka, especially north Karnataka who suffered maximum damage due to floods, I demand more compensation to the farmers and people whose houses were damaged,” Siddaramaiah said. -(PTI)