Mysuru: “The unnecessary delay in payments by the central government has been causing a lot of problems to the the state government. Just for Udyoga Katri Yojana, the Centre’s due to state government is Rs 1800 Crore including this year’s share of Rs 800 Crore towards wage and material payment,” said Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
Krishna Byre Gowda who was in Mysuru to take part in a two-day progress review meeting of the Zilla Panchayat CEOs and Deputy Secretaries at the ZP auditorium here on Wednesday, January 23, said, “In 2015-16, the central government had to pay Rs 2165 Crore towards drought relief in the state but after a delay of over six months, they paid just Rs 935 Crore and it is yet to pay rest they are yet to pay. The then chief minister Siddaramaiah with an intention of not burdening the people, decided to take a risk by paying the entire money from the state government itself. It’s the same this year as well. Union government has slowed down the payment. It is yet to pay more than Rs 900 Crore.”
“We are not facing problems with Udyoga Katri Yojna alone. It is still worse with regard to drinking water. Before the BJP came to power at the Centre, the cost sharing was 75 percent from the central government and 25 percent from the state government. But, in reality, their share is not even 15 percent. This year we have spent Rs 2600 Crore on drinking water project. Going by the share, even if it is 50 percent, they should have given Rs 1300 Crore but they have paid just Rs 312 Crore which is less than 13 percent. The problem is not only restricted to our department. It’s the same in all departments. The statutory grants from Finance Commission too has come down,” he claimed.
‘162 taluks in state are drought affected’
“Across the state, we are providing drinking water to 646 villages. To 284 villages we are providing water through 490 tankers and 382 villages through private borewells after taking them for rent”, Byre Gowda send.
‘29,000 permanent drinking water projects’
“Across the state, we have taken up 29,000 permanent drinking water projects at a overall cost of Rs 2600 Crore. Already 27000 projects have been completed and the rest will be completed by February or March. Of the Rs 2600 Crore, we have released Rs 1600 Crore and the rest will be released once the projects get completed”, the minister added.
’90 percent of Udyoga Katri work completed’
“Already we have completed 90 percent, i.e., Rs 2900 Crore worth Udyoga Katri work, which is more than what was achieved in the last six years. We will take up further work which will be 25 percent more than the target for this year. The works which were taken up included construction of school compound and toilet rooms, Anganawadi works, construction of check dams and desilting of lakes.
