SC Gets Drought Relief Funds Released for Karnataka

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Election Commission of India has given it clearance to deal with the issue raised by Karnataka regarding financial assistance for drought management in the state.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a plea filed by the Karnataka government seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for drought management.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, told the bench, “The Election Commission has cleared the government to deal with this question. I think it will be done expeditiously.” The AG told the bench that the matter could be taken up next week.

“This should all be done amicably…we are having a federal structure,” the bench observed while adjourning the matter.

The Karnataka government plea said that the state is reeling under “severe drought”, affecting the lives of its people and for the Kharif 2023 season, which starts in June and ends in September, a total of 223 out of 236 taluks have been declared as drought-affected. As many as 196 taluks are categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 as moderately affected, it said. Through the plea, the state sought assistance from the Centre under the NDRF to the tune of Rs 18,171.44 crore.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed happiness at the Supreme Court's “intervention” and termed it a success in his government’s fight to secure justice and relief for the people of the state.

The Chief Minister in a post on X said, “Thanks to the intervention of the Supreme Court, the central government, which had delayed providing drought relief funds to the farmers of Karnataka, has agreed to make a decision within this week. This is a milestone and a success in our long fight to secure justice and relief for the people of Karnataka,”

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar stated, “We challenged the lies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in refusing the rightful claim of drought relief from the central government to the Karnataka farmers. We knocked the doors of justice and farmers got their rightful due from the Modi government.”