Karnataka seeks additional grants from Centre for input subsidy

Tumakuru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said the state government has already written to the Centre seeking additional grants for input subsidy to compensate farmers badly hit by heavy rains.

He was speaking to media persons after participating in a programme to pay tributes to Sri Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Mutt here.

“Recent unseasonal rains have caused huge crop losses across the state. We have written to Union Secretary for Disaster Management seeking additional grants to compensate the affected farmers,” Bommai said.

“We have requested the Centre to send inter-ministerial team to assess the extent of crop loss as the Centre had asked the state about the additional financial assistance required for calamity relief. The state government has already begun crop survey,” Bommai said.

The district administration in the state has Rs 685 crore to disburse the input subsidy. The relief is being paid in many districts where the crop survey details have already been uploaded into the Parihara App, the Chief Minister said.

Replying to a question about rise in Covid cases in some parts of the state, Bommai said, stringent precautions were being taken to prevent and control the spread of the coronavirus. Containment zones have been created, testing has been ramped up and some of the test samples have been sent for Genome Sequencing.