Every penny paid on time, FM Nirmala Sitharaman hits back as Karnataka moves SC seeking drought relief
Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday asserted every penny that was due to Karnataka from the Union Government had been paid on time, a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced moving the Supreme Court over the “five-month delay” in the release of drought relief.
The FM, who represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, rejected Karnataka’s charge of fiscal bias against the Centre, speaking at an interaction organized by Thinkers Forum in Bengaluru.
“The claim that Rs 5,495 crore as a special grant was not released for Karnataka is totally false. The Finance Commission, in its final report, did not recommend any such special grants.”
The state’s share of the GST mop-up of Rs 1.06 lakh crore for Karnataka for the period between 2017 to 2022, she added, was released in full and no GST compensation was due for the state as of March 2024.
The CM and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday announced knocking on the apex court’s doors praying for directions to the Centre to release funds for the State from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). “It’s the responsibility of both state and the Centre to respond to farmers when a disaster occurs. We have waited patiently for five long months for the Centre to respond to our requests. Finally, we were forced to approach the court of law,” the CM said.
Karnataka is currently grappling with an acute water scarcity crisis, with 223 out of 236 taluks declared as drought affected. The state government has sought ₹18,171 crore under the NDRF. The funds were supposed to be
