Karnataka CM directs officials to speed up drought relief

       
Bangalore, May 8 (PTI) Facing flak over handling of the
drought situation, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today
directed top officials to ensure relief works on a war footing
in the state where 125 taluks have been declared drought-hit.
        Addressing top officials of different departments in the
presence of senior ministers, Siddaramaiah said funds were not
a constraint for providing drinking water and fodder and added
that Rs 516 crore had been released so far for drought relief
works.
        Governor H R Bhardwaj had last week openly expressed his
unhappiness over the government's handling and said the Chief
Minister must activate the administration to deal with the
drought conditions.
        KPCC Chief G Parameshwara had also asked the Chief
Minister to speed up relief works by taking "proactive steps."
        Principal opposition BJP had in a memorandum to the
Governor yesterday had accused the government of "gross
negligence" and sought his intervention to "wake up
Siddaramiah and his cabinet colleagues from their deep slumber
and focus their attention on combating drought with all
seriousness."
        In the meeting today, Siddaramaiah said 10,163 villages
in 125 taluks were facing scarcity conditions, of which 1086
villages were hit severely. Badly affected villages were being
water through tankers.
    Fodder banks had been opened and there was enough stock to
meet the needs for the next 26 weeks, he said.
        Rural and Panchayatraj Development Minister H K Patil,
Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, Law and Animal Husbandry
Minister T B Jayachandra and Revenue Minister V Srinivasa
Prasad and senior officials of the departments concerned were
present at the meeting. 

Karna accepts K'rangan report to stop mining, but not quarrying, sand mining

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, Apr 28 (PTI) Karnataka today said it has
accepted the Kasturirangan committee report on the Western
Ghats to stop mining but said it would not stop quarrying and
sand mining in the ecologically sensitive area.
     "We have accepted the recommendation to stop mining in
Western Ghats but disagreed to stop quarrying and sand mining
in the ecologically-sensitive Western Ghats," Law and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandhra told reporters
here.
     He said the state cabinet had taken the decision as lack
of sand supply had already crippled developmental and
infrastructural activities across the state.
    The government is not against Kasturirangan report but
against demarcation of ecologically-sensitive areas in the
Western Ghats, the minister said.
    "Instead of including 1,580 villages in ecologically-
sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, the cabinet has decided
to include 850 villages," he said.
     The Kasturirangan Panel had recommended a ban on
development activities in 60,000 sq km ecologically-sensitive
area spread over six states of Gujarat, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
     Jayachandra said the state is confident of convincing the
Centre to delete those recommendations that would 'adversely'
affect the people.
     He also said the cabinet has decided to give Rs 40,000
assistance for one hectare to farmers who were hit by untimely
rains and hailstorms."The amount is more than what Maharashtra
government has announced, Rs 25,000 per hectare," he added.
    Asked why the government has decided to provide aid to
only one hectare, the minister said most farmers hold one to
two hectares of land.
    Government would utilise the fund released from National
Disaster Response Fund to compensate farmers and others who
had suffered crop and property loss due to hailstorm,he said.
     The hailstorm had damaged rabi crops, including wheat,
pulses, oilseeds and horticultural crops in over two lakh
hectares in Yadagir, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Raichur,
Koppal, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts.
    The minister said government had submitted a memorandum to
a central study team, which toured the state in March, and
urged the Centre to calculate financial aid on the basis of
the extent of loss. 

No compromise on Cauvery: Karnataka's Min

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, Apr 22 (PTI) Karnataka government will not
compromise on protecting the state's interest in implementing
the Mekedatu Hydel Project across the Cauvery, a state
minister said today.
        "We will not compromise on protecting the interests of the
state with respect to the Cauvery water issue including
Mekedatu Hydel Project," Energy Minister D K Shivakumar told
reporters here.
        Shivakumar was responding to former Chief Minister and
Opposition Leader in Legislative Council D V Sadananda Gowda's
charge that Congress was trying to sacrifice the interests
of the state to woo voters in Tamil Nadu.
        Gowda had taken exception to the reported statement of
Shivakumar during an election campaign in Tamil Nadu that
Karnataka had dropped plans to implement Mekedatu hydel
project in the wake of the objections by the lower riparian
state.
        The proposal for taking up the project comprising two
generating units with a capacity of 200 MW each has been
pending for nearly 15 years.
        When Law Minister T B Jayachandra announced last year that
the state would take up the project, Tamil Nadu opposed
it and even moved to the Supreme Court.
        "Until they give us the NOC we are unable to take up the
Mekedatu project," Shivakumar said.
        Asked about loadshedding in the state, Shivakumar denied
any such thing happening but retorted, "Those were due to
technical problems."
        Shivakumar also said the government has taken all steps to
ensure people are not hit by power crisis in summer.
        "The government has purchased 650 MW in March last week
and generated 450 MW wind energy," he added.
        The Minister said the government has met the villagers'
demand for ensuring uninterrupted power supply.
        "We will continue to supply seven-hour uninterrupted
three-phase power to villages where he had promised to do so,"
he said.

Karnataka govt urges EC to withdraw Model Code

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, April 21 (PTI) With the single-phase Lok Sabha polls in the state over on April 17, Karnataka Government has written to the Election Commission asking it to withdraw the Model Code of Conduct to enable it to take up developmental programmes.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the Chief Secretary has written a letter to the Election Commission to withdraw Model Code of Conduct.

"We are expecting a response from the EC soon," he told reporters here.

Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar said government was waiting for a letter from EC announcing withdrawal of the Model Code of Conduct to take up programmes including free bicycle distribution scheme.

Speaking to reporters separately, Ratnakar said the tender process involving the implementation of free bicycle distribution scheme had been completed, but could not be pushed forward due to the Model Code.

"Once we get the nod from the EC, we will immediately distribute the bicycles to high school students," he said.

The Minister said the Model Code affected the distribution of free books and uniforms to school students. "By first week of June, free books and uniforms will be distributed," he said.

The government has alloted Rs 90 crore for free books, Rs 80 crore for uniforms and Rs 173 crore for bicycle distribution, Ratnakar said.

He also said the transfer of teachers has been affected due to the Model Code. Transfer of 16,000 couple-employees has been affected and the government plans to bring strict transfer policy soon to put a check on middlemen.