Water crisis of Bengaluru has raised the mercury in the political barometer of Karnataka. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have dived in to turn the tides in their favour over the drought-relief funds.
One has seen the leaders of the ruling Congress in the state accusing the Centre for not providing aid to the state when it is grappling with acute water shortage.
And, now, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s comment that there was an ‘unavoidable delay’ on the part of the Central government in releasing relief funds to Karnataka owing to the implementation of Model Code of Conduct has left enough space to read between the lines.
At a time when the issue is being used to milk political gains ahead of the polls, the comment has, unequivocally, brought backlash for the BJP, thereby giving the Congress an opportunity to galvanise it in their favour.
However, Sitharaman’s explanation of the delay has provided substantial meat.
She was quick to point out that the Union government had released Karnataka’s allocated funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF). Additionally, Sitharaman said, “Out of Rs 928 crore, Rs 697 crore were given to the state in two installments in advance under SDRF.”
By saying this, she tried to highlight that the Central government did their bit even before the crisis took place. She, thus, tried to imply that the state government had received the funds from the Union government. Yet, it could not use it to the best of its ability to solve the problem.
Conversely, as Siddaramaiah mentioned, it is “state’s right to receive funds from the Finance Commission (FC). It is not a favour”.
The CM also said, “The government has been judiciously using the funds under SDRF to solve the matter. However, since drought-induced damage escalates beyond Rs 37,000 crore, there was a need for an additional support of Rs 18,171 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).”
He asserted that this request seems to be falling on deaf ears.
While one does not know who is mixing the figures, the havoc wreaked on the people of Bengaluru is unprecedented.
The recent war of words between Siddaramaiah and Sitharaman reminds of the statement given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah where he accused the state government for applying for the funds three months later.
Both the parties are involved in blaming each other on the drought-relief funds, giving more prominence to the ‘issue’ than finding out a ‘solution’.
Keeping aside the political divide, if both the central and state governments come together to solve the problem then Bangaloreans will be able to heave a sigh of relief from the worst drought that they are experiencing in the past 30-40 years.
Follow us
