BENGALURU: The year 2020 has seen Karnataka plunge deeper into financial crisis despite efforts to set right its fiscal position with additional borrowings of Rs 33,000 crore.
With as many as 40 taluks in 25 districts across the state being declared as flood hit, the Karnataka government appears to be in a spot of bother over managing the fiscal crisis for floods, Covid-19 pandemic and proceeding with developmental works.
Besides the pandemic which has hit the state hard, the incessant rains and flooding twice in this fiscal alone has put a drain on the financial resources.
The three back-to-back memorandums submitted by the state government to the centre has clearly stated that Karnataka has seen losses of a whopping Rs 25,000 crore due to floods this year alone.
In correspondence to the losses, the centre has till date released a paltry sum of Rs 737 crore under Karnataka’s share of state disaster response fund (SDRF).
As per the breakup given by revenue minister R Ashoka, the state has spent more than half of the funds-- Rs 436.6 crore-- released by centre towards Covid-19 mitigation.
According Ashoka, the state government has dispatched the newest of the three memorandum to the centre for relief in Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Raichur and Vijayapura earlier last week but is expecting little assistance as Karnataka has exhausted the entire allocation under SDRF to the state.
“We have dispatched the memorandum to the centre and expect whatever relief will come, shall come under the NDRF norms. In addition, even to release these funds, a central team is expected to survey the freshly flood hit districts,” said the minister.
According to government sources, the NDRF and SDRF funding patterns have created havoc with Karnataka’s efforts to provide respite to flood hit victims.
“Unless a special grant is provided to the state, Karnataka cannot see much relief coming from the centre under the stringent NDRF norms,” said the official.
In a statement, the revenue department has said that till date the government has declared 40 taluks in 25 districts as flood hit, adding that 21.6 lakh hectares of crop losses have been recorded through the year.
The maximum hit crops are horticulture crops , followed by agriculture crops and coffee estates in Kodagu
The floods have also seen 90 lives being lost and 1,935 cattle dying.