The Opposition Congress and JD(S) slammed Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s Rs 1,250-crore Covid-19 package on Wednesday.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah termed it “useless and unscientific” and even questioned the actual quantum of the aid that Yediyurappa has announced. “The CM has said it is Rs 1,250 crore. But, statistics released by the government show Rs 1,111.82 crore. Of this, Rs 494 crore for construction workers will be given to them from the welfare cess. It’s their own money so it can’t be considered as a relief. Then, there’s Rs 134.38 crore worth of loans whose repayment has been deferred by three months, which has been shown as a relief. What remains is Rs 483.44 crore,” Siddaramaiah explained.
Siddaramaiah had earlier demanded Rs 10,000 for every working-class family and 10 kg rice for every BPL household.
Both Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar recalled that last year’s package did not reach all beneficiaries. “Last year’s package was a failure. How many flower growers got Rs 25,000 per hectare? This has been lowered to Rs 10,000 this time. Last year, they announced aid for 7.5 lakh drivers of whom only one lakh were covered,” Shivakumar said, adding that the package was just “namesake”.
‘Package after JD(S) demanded one’
Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said the government announced the relief package after the JD(S) urged for it.
“However, the package is not commensurate with the state’s 6.5 crore population. A much smaller state like Kerala announced a package of Rs 20,000 crore,” he said. “When Yediyurappa snatched power from me, he had stated that Karnataka's economy was stable. In two years, how did we wind up in such a poor financial condition? When the government can spend thousands of crores on political corporations and boards, can't it give money for people's welfare?” he asked.