Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has sought ₹1,000 crore from the Centre for the development of natural farming on over 70 lakh hectares of arid or dryland in the State.
He said the funds would be needed to encourage the method of farming without using pesticides or fertilizers. This would benefit 60 lakh farmers in the drylands of the State, he told Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh during a meeting on Wednesday.
During meetings with Union Ministers over two days, he has asked for funding of ₹2,500 crore for a number of projects and schemes, said a release. He visited the Food and Civil Supplies, Land Transport, Water Resources, Agriculture, Railways, Mining and Defence Ministers in New Delhi.
He sought the release of ₹954 crore that was pending as dues from the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies and ₹143 crore due to farmers after the procurement of over 13.44 lakh quintals of Bengal Gram in 2017-18. The Agriculture Minister said that while ₹50 crore worth of dues have been released, the remaining would be released soon.
During a meeting with MPs from the State, the Chief Minister requested all representatives to raise issues related to Karnataka and the Cauvery water-sharing issue in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he received a positive response from the Defence Ministry on providing defence land for the Namma Metro project in Bengaluru. On Wednesday, the CM met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) needs 3,419 sq m of defence land permanently, and another 13,426 sq m temporarily for the underground network under Phase II of the project.
In the Gottigere-Nagawara line, the BMRCL has already floated a tender to build the underground stretch from Vellara to Pottery Town. But it needs defence land to build the metro stations. At M.G. Road, the BMRCL is building an intersection station by linking the existing station of the Purple Line.