Siddu blames Centre norms for drought declaration delay

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday blamed the Union government for the delay in the declaration of drought in Karnataka.

The State government on Thursday declared 195 taluks in the state as drought-affected. The CM was referring to the guidelines issued by the Centre which put forth “stringent” conditions for declaration of drought.

He had even written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, requesting the relaxation of the rules that required a 60 per cent monsoon deficit for drought to be declared.

He had argued that a deficit between 20 and 59 per cent must also be sufficient for declaration of drought. The CM disclosed that Tomar hadn’t written back to him over the issue. Siddaramaiah reasoned that under the given conditions, it was impossible to give farmers adequate relief.

“The drought declaration had been delayed to problems pertaining to the norms contained in the Central government’s drought declaration manual 2020. If these norms are not changed, it is impossible to carry out relief work in the droughtaffected areas and extend a helping hand to the suffering people,” he said.

“I had written to the Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, explaining the necessity of changing the criteria for drought declaration. However, there has no reply from the Centre as of yet,” he added.

The CM said that there were other factors like crops that hadn’t been planted due to an already failing monsoon that weren’t taken into consideration by the guidelines.

He also blamed the Opposition BJP for not being able to advocate for the “state’s interests” before their high command and faulting the State government instead.