Claiming that the State’s financial condition had deteriorated, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday warned that Karnataka was bound to face revenue deficit in about a year from now.
Participating in a debate in the Assembly on floods and compensation provided by the government, he said the committed expenditure, which used to be around 75% of total expenditure when he was the Chief Minister, had now touched 92%.
Why boards?
“If this situation continues, then we will face revenue deficit in about a year,” Mr. Siddaramaiah warned, and expressed concern over the government constituting various caste- and community-based development boards in such a situation. “Instead of allocating money to such boards, you could have paid compensation to farmers and flood victims,” he argued.
Mr. Siddaramaiah launched an offensive against the BJP government at the Centre by accusing it of showing “step-motherly attitude” towards Karnataka. As against losses to the tune of ₹24,941.73 crore due to floods that ravaged the State in three phases this year, the Centre had given only ₹577 crore, he said.
At the same time, the Centre had given a huge compensation of ₹2,707 crore to West Bengal in view of the forthcoming elections though the intensity of floods was lesser there, he alleged.
He wondered why Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had not taken a delegation of MPs from Karnataka to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek adequate compensation for the State. He also took exception to the Prime Minister not visiting Karnataka for a flood survey though he went to Bihar for the same purpose.
He also criticised Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for rejecting the 15th Finance Commission’s recommendation to provide special grants of ₹5,495 crore to Karnataka and two other States.
“I have written three letters to the Chief Minister related to floods. But he has not responded to any of them,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said. The government had given a meagre crop loss compensation of ₹110 crore though 25% of crops worth ₹ 14,000 crore was lost, he alleged.
