Centre has agreed for compensation to areca growers, State not following up'

Mangalore, July 7: The Prime Minister as well as other ministers in the Centre have given their nod for compensation to arecanut growers in the state. But the state government is too busy in internal conflicts and Chief Ministerial tussle to follow up the areca-nut growers' problems, said Siddharamaiah, Leader of Opposition, Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

He was speaking at an anti-BJP awareness meet organized by the District Congress at Town Hall in Mangalore on Saturday.

Criticising the BJP led state government, the senior Congress leader said that in the last four years not a single megawatt of power had been generated as against the promise made by the government four years ago that 10,000 MW of power would be generated and free power would be supplied to the farmers. 30 lakh BPL cards have been cancelled by the BJP government. As a result, poor people in the state are not getting access to facilities such as free rice, free treatment in hospitals and the like. About 12 lakh social security pensions have been discontinued, thereby leaving several widows and elderly citizens in misery, he said.

Commenting on the drought problem in the state, Mr. Siddharamaiah said that not a single rupee had been spent to address the problem from the state treasury. “The funds that have been used are from the aid given by centre which includes CRF fund and NREGS funds. People are struggling for water. The BJP government which talks about protection of cows, is not being able to arrange fodder for them in the drought hit areas”, he remarked.

He also reiterated that the change of guard for the Chief Minister's post will do little in solving the problems that have marred the development of Karnataka.

Referring to the ongoing tussle for the Chief Ministerial berth in the state, Mr. Siddharamaiah said that only change in governance can solve the problem and not change in the Chief Ministerial post. People are fed up of the BJP government and it showed in the recently held Udupi-Chikmagalur bypolls, he said.

The Reddy brothers of Bellary have looted about Rs. 1 lakh crore by exploiting the resources of the state and engaging in illegal mining, which equals the total amount of annual budget which the state government presents, Mr. Siddharamaiah said.

S R Patil, Leader of Opposition, Legislative Council and V R Sudarshan, Former Speaker, Legislative Assembly, also spoke.

B Ramanath Rai, DK District Congress President, B Janardana Poojary, Former Minister, Gulzar Banu, Mangalore Mayor, U T Khader, MLA, Abhaychandra Jain, MLA, Vinay Kumar Sorake, Former MP, Ivan D'Silva, Moideen Bawa, and many other Congress leaders were present on the occasion.