BIDAR: Women in Yanagunda village complained to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, who was on an inspection visit here, that their MNREGA wages are lying outstanding for nearly two years.To this, the CM ordered the officials present to settle all pending arrears within three days, warning them of action in case of failure. He asked zilla panchayat CEO Mir Anees Ahmed to appoint a special officer to ensure payment of pending wages in drought-hit taluks.“The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department had instructed ZPs that there was no need for a third party inspection of MNREGA works during drought.Don’t wait for third party inspections. Please pay wages to labourers within two weeks,” he said. He assured farmers that no financial institution in the state would initiate recovery of loans from them.District in-charge Minister Revu Naik Belamagi, MLA Prabhu Chauhan, District in-charge Secretary Dr E V Ramana Reddy, Deputy Commissioner Sameer Shukla and SP N Satish Kumar were among those present.‘Centre Aid Must for Drought Loss’Meanwhile, the chief minister said he will lead an all-party delegation to the Centre to seek additional drought relief on May 2. We have assessed the crop loss in the state at `4,500 crore, and urge the Centre to provide grants for at least half of it, Gowda told the press at the Air Force base here.“Till now, we have spent `394 crore, including `196 crore from the Centre, on drought relief measures,” he said. He added that all farmers’ suicides will be investigated and suitable compensation be paid to their kin Water levels worry DVSGULBARGA: Decrease in groundwater levels is a worry to the government, said Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday.He addressed the media at Basavakalyan on Thursday that he has been receiving reports on the water levels in various districts.The government has already released Rs 198 crore to the affected districts with instruction to release Rs 30 lakh to each of the drought-hit taluks, he said.Later, at a drought review meeting, the CM said that he has instructed officials of cooperative banks not to take serious steps to recover loans from farmers.The chief minister, though, said it would not be possible for the government to waive the agricultural loans.An allparty delegation would go to New Delhi on May 2 to brief the Union government about the situation.If the state government receives expected relief from the Union government, then it could take steps to waive the agricultural loans, he said.The CM ordered the deputy commissioners of drought-hit districts to take up drinking water works and open fodder banks at the Hobli level on priority.Basavakalyan MLA Basavaraj Patil Attur, Humnabad MLA Rajashekhar Patil and Bhalki MLA Ishwar Khandre complained about erratic water and power supply in the region. Maha water from today, says GowdaGULBARGA: Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda expressed confidence that the Maharashtra government would start releasing water to Karnataka from Koyna reservoir from Friday.He said that after the Maharashtra government declined the state’s request, he spoke to Belgaum MP Prabhakar Kore to urge Maharastra to release water.The MP had urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Maharastra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to release the water on humanitarian grounds.Gowda added that Chavan had earlier agreed to release 2 TMC ft of water to Krishna river when a state delegation led by Basavaraj Bommai called on him in Mumbai 10 days ago.“Due to threats from the Shiv Sena, release of water was held up,” he said.Now, Chavan is convinced of the grim situation, he said.“He has assured of releasing water to Karnataka from the reservoir,” Gowda said.50% subsidy of fodderBIDAR: The state government will provide 50 pc subsidy on fodder in drought hit areas, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in Chintaki village on Thursday.He instructed officials to take steps to provide fodder at subsidised rates at fodder centres set up in taluks or hoblis.He was responding to complaints by farmers that fodder was expensive and even unavailable in rural areas.Gowda asked officials to check if all borewells in gram panchayats were working and improve their working by flushing or reboring.“Dig new borewells only if it is absolutely necessary,” he said.He asked Gescom officials to provide six hours threephase power supply a day.“If it is not possible to maintain this supply, please inform the people,” the chief minister said. He said he had seen women waiting in queues before wells
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