Belagavi: Proper leadership is needed to resolve the issues in North Karnataka. However, the Congress government has not provided compensation to farmers, nor to those who lost their homes. They should release a white paper to explain which promises for North Karnataka have been fulfilled, demanded opposition leader R. Ashok.

Speaking in the assembly about the problems in North Karnataka, he said that during floods, people stay in gruel centers. The government should provide immediate compensation at that time. Under the Congress government, compensation was given 9 months later in July 2013-2014, 8 months later in 2014-15, and 7 months later in 2015-16. In our BJP government, compensation was provided within just two months after the August 2019-20 flood. For the 2022 flood, it was within two months; for the 2021-22 flood, within two months; and for the 2023 flood, within one month. Such delays in providing compensation should not happen, he said.

‘Inadequate compensation to people’

According to NDRF norms, Rs 95,000 is given for house damage. The BJP state government added four lakh rupees, making a total of Rs 5 lakh in compensation. The Congress government is not providing such compensation for house damage in North Karnataka and is only giving the central share. It’s impossible to build a house with just Rs 95,000. The BJP government provided Rs 6,651.15 crore in crop damage compensation to the bank accounts of 51.95 lakh farmers. The Congress government introduced the FRUITS software instead of DBT, causing a four-month delay. Now, compensation is being delayed, he said.

From 2014-2022, the Narendra Modi government provided Rs 11,603 crore in relief, while the Manmohan Singh government gave Rs 3,233 crore. That means four times more relief was received. The previous BJP state government did not ask the central government to provide relief immediately. Funds were first disbursed from the state treasury. My opinion is that we should not wait for the central government. Similarly, the Congress government should now take money from the treasury and provide it, he demanded.

‘CM should have come

by car’

More than 117 villages in districts like Kalaburagi, Bidar, Vijayapura, and Yadgir have been flooded. Over 20,000 houses have been damaged, crops in 14.58 lakh hectares have been affected, and 2,890 schools have been damaged. While Dasara was being celebrated in Mysuru, people in North Karnataka were in water. We all went by car to visit, but Chief Minister Siddaramaiah conducted an aerial survey. Instead, he could have come by car and met the people. IAS officers always say everything is fine. The Chief Minister should have visited every village. Officials have not come to the villages for surveys either. In many places, they have given false reports saying there was no flood, he said.

Former Chief Minister and MP Basavaraj Bommai has written a letter to the government about this. Even though he informed which villages were flooded, the revenue department has not responded. The government is abandoning farmers and doing injustice. Therefore, the government should conduct another survey, he urged.

‘Where is the report on North Karnataka?’

The problems of North Karnataka are mentioned in the Dr. Nanjundappa report. Last time in the assembly, CM Siddaramaiah said he would give a report in 6 months. A committee was formed under Prof. Govindarao, but even after 12 months, the report has not come. Under KKRDB funding, Rs 900 crore was to be given for building district taluk hospitals, PHCs, CHCs. Where is the progress on that? CM Siddaramaiah spoke about industrial promotion. But 216 factories are still in the establishment stage. Under the commerce and industries department, 221 factories are in the same situation. Cotton factory development, tourism development, raising the Almatti reservoir to 224 meters by acquiring 73,603 acres, etc., were mentioned. But none of these have been implemented, he said.

In Kalyana Karnataka, in 2024-25, 53 degree colleges have zero results. Five Morarji Desai residential schools also have zero results. The Chief Minister said he would fill 21,000 teacher posts, but that hasn’t happened. In this region, 50,244 children are malnourished. While per capita income in Bengaluru is Rs 7 lakh, in Kalaburagi it is Rs 1.43 lakh, he said.