RDPR Minister Krishna Byre Gowda expresses ire

Mysuru: Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has alleged that the Central Government was not releasing grants to RDPR Department on time.

He was addressing media persons after holding a progress review meeting with Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Deputy Secretaries at the Abdul Nazir Saab auditorium at the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) premises here yesterday, and said that the Centre had to release a lot of grants for drinking water and MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) schemes.

Earlier, the Centre would release funds under 75:25 ratio but after NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government came to power, it has been reduced to 60:40 ratio. Even according to this, the Centre is not releasing grants, he said.

When the State was reeling under severe drought conditions in 2016, out of the Rs. 2,175 crore, it still had not released Rs. 935 crore till now. Including this grant, the Centre has to release dues to the tune of Rs. 1,800 crore.

In spite of the 25 MPs of Karnataka, under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge urging the Centre to release funds, nothing has happened so far,  he charged.

Launch of permanent works: The State has released Rs. 2,400 crore to tackle drinking water problem in the coming summer months. A total of 162 taluks had been declared drought-hit and authorities were supplying drinking water through water tankers in 284 villages. In another 362 villages, which face drinking water scarcity, the authorities had hired borewells to supply drinking water, he said.

MGNREGA assistance for farmers: The Department had set a target of 8.5 crore man-days and the State is all set to cross its target under the MGNREGA scheme and reach its highest ever target of 10.5 crore man-days for the year 2018-19, claimed Byre Gowda.

Even though two-and-half-months are left for the financial year to conclude, already 90.6 per cent of the work has been completed. The annual target was to spend Rs. 3,780 crore under the scheme this year, but Rs. 2,290 crore had already been spent so far, he added.

There is no condition that farmers should work under MGNREGA scheme in Government programmes. The farmers holding BPL cards can grow horticulture crops like sapota, banana, coconut, mango in their own lands for which the Government will give grants. For instance if the farmers want to buy saplings, they will be given labour cost under MGNREGA. Under this scheme there is a provision for granting Rs. 1.5 lakh and Rs. 250 has been fixed for labour. Like every year, this year also it will be hiked, he said.

The two-day workshop will conclude today and new development works will be taken up for discussion.