The Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB), which was formed to implement the special status accorded to Kalyana Karnataka under Article 371(J) of the Constitution, appears to be suffering from a financial crunch.
Though a budgetary allocation of ₹1,500 crore was made for the year, against the demand of ₹2,000 crore, the allocated amount is yet to be released.
Considering the delay in the approval of the action plans and the release of funds, the Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Tuesday expressing his displeasure.
“Only three months are left for the financial year and the action plans are not approved. Considering all these things, the government appears to have completely neglected the development of Kalyana Karnataka,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said in the letter.
Apparently responding to Mr. Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister on Wednesday announced in the Assembly that he would shortly approve the ₹1,100-crore action plans prepared by KKRDB.
Congress leaders from Kalyana Karnataka, including Priyank Kharge, strongly criticised the government for reducing the amount from the allocated ₹1,500 crore to ₹1,100 crore and delaying the approval of the action plans.
“As Chief Minister himself admitted on the Floor of the House, the State is in unprecedented financial doldrums. It did not even release funds for relief and rehabilitation work for flood victims. I don’t have any expectation that the present government would do something positive for Kalyana Karnataka,” Mr. Priyank Kharge told The Hindu.
Even civil society leaders have objected and termed the government’s delay as a deliberate injustice to Kalyana Karnataka.
“The delay in approving the action plans is a deliberate move by the government to buy time. It doesn’t want to spend the money for the region this year. It just wants to spend time in the procedures till the end of the financial year. The budgetary allocation made to the KKRDB was ₹1,500 crore. But, the action plans were prepared for ₹1,100 crore upon the direction of the government. There are 41 MLAs from the region and none of them questioned it,” Razak Ustaad, vice-president of the Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti, the organisation which led the mass movement for the special status, told The Hindu.
Mr. Utsaad also questioned the government for keeping KKRDB almost defunct.
“The government has nominated only the chairman for KKRDB. There are no members at present. Without a full-fledged body, the KKRDB cannot take decisions and approve action plans. The government should have appointed the members in the first place and made it functional. It has deliberately kept the board inactive compelling it to send the action plans to it so that it could delay in approving the same,” Mr. Ustaad added.
