State facing financial difficulties: Karjol

Minister for Public Works and Social Welfare Govind Karjol admitted on Saturday that the State was facing a severe cash crunch.

“Revenues to the State government have fallen due to the lockdown. The Union and State governments are trying to make good the losses suffered in the period. Though we are not getting expected revenues, we are working hard to see that the administration is not affected. We are carrying on the administration of the State without affecting development programmes in anyway,” he said. He was speaking at the inauguration of Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan in Nippani.

“The floods in north Karnataka led to a loss of over ₹35,000 crore. The lockdown since March has reduced our revenues. Though our development activities may have slowed down now, we will pick up pace in the future,” he added. He said the CM’s relief package had helped wage earners, vocational workmen and small businessmen. He hoped that the Prime Minister’s Atma Nirbhar idea would bring back rigour in the economy.

He said the State had taken up many social welfare programmes. No other State has taken such projects and programmes, he said. There were four lakh students in 824 hostels run by the Social Welfare Department in Karnataka, he said.