Drought effect: No more jaunts, mega events
With Karnataka facing a severe drought, the government has decided to impose austerity measures by restricting the foreign tours of legislators and bureaucrats in the next two months. Extravagant government functions will be done away with. Speaking to reporters after an all-party meeting here on Thursday, Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda said that till the state is able to succesfully combat the drought, spending on non-drought related matters will be kept to the minimum.
The all-party meeting decided to send a delegation to the Centre, seeking funds from the Natural Calamity Fund to tackle the drought situation. “The date on which the delegation will leave for Delhi and its composition, will be decided later. With Basava Jayanthi set to be celebrated next week, the delegation will leave either in the last week of April or first week of May,’’ he said. The state government had sought Rs 2500 crore from the Centre for drought relief but no funds have been provided, said the CM adding that the revised estimates put the amount of . funds needed at Rs 4,500 crore. The state expects the Centre to release at least 50 % of the sought amount.
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