Vijayapura: Congress MLA and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Campaign Committee Chairman M. B. Patil has accused the ruling BJP Government of not granting adequate funds for purchase of electricity to supply to farmers for irrigation purposes.
Addressing mediapersons on Thursday August 26, he said that while the government should grant Rs. 16,000 Crore for purchasing 21,333 million units of power, it has released only Rs. 12,000 Crore. Due to this there is a deficit of 5.333 million units of electricity in the State as the Government has not paid another Rs. 4000 crore to meet the requirement, he noted.
“By looking at the Government slashing the funds for critical sectors such as power, it seems that the Government is on the brink of financial bankruptcy,” he said.
Patil claimed that during the Congress Government, the bills were getting cleared and farmers were not facing electricity shortage. He said that according to his sources, the Government is now even contemplating to slash the timings of supply of three phase power to the farmers. “The farmers are facing problems in monsoon when they do not need much electricity, think about the summers when they need electricity higher than today. How the government will meet their demand,” he said.
The farmers are facing major problems as they are unable to get enough electricity to feed to their farms. They have already started venting their ire through protests, Patil said.
He however appealed to the farmers not to hold the protests outside the electricity supply offices or damage their property as the officials are not responsible for the situation.
“The officials are after all doing their duty. They have no authority in releasing funds. So the farmer should not hold protests outside the offices or damage the property. The farmers’ unions should realise that the mess is created by the Government. Therefore, the farmers should protest against the ruling BJP Government,” he said.
He said that the party leaders would hold discussion with the Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah on the matter for intensifying the agitation in the State in order to get justice to the farmers.
