Congress govt. has completely failed in handling drought, says Arvind Bellad

BJP team led by MLA Arvind Bellad visits drought-hit Yadgir; slams State govt. for inaction. Bellad says govt. failed to tackle drought, BJP teams to submit report. He urges govt. to release compensation to affected farmers without waiting for Central drought relief. Criticizes Ministers & MLAs for spending crores on offices & bungalows. Welcomes HC decision on recruiting police sub-inspectors. Declines to comment on former CM's retirement.

Member of Legislative Assembly Arvind Bellad, who is leading the BJP team visiting drought-hit areas in Yadgir district, has said that the State government has completely failed in tackling the drought situation in the district.

Addressing a press conference in Yadgir on Friday, after visiting drought-hit Balichakra and Ramasamudra villages, Mr. Bellad said that the BJP has waited for long for the government to act to address drought.

However, as the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government has failed to tackle drought properly, the BJP members have been forced to visit drought-hit areas to assess the ground realities and report it to the party.

At present, eight teams of the party are visiting various districts of the State and they will submit a comprehensive report after the conclusion of the study visits, he said.

“There is severe drought. A majority of farmers who spent approximately ₹60,000 per acre for agriculture activities, including sowing, are eagerly waiting for compensation. But, the State government has just released ₹9 crore for the district. Considering this hard situation, the State government should immediately release compensation to the affected farmers without waiting for Central drought relief as it [the Union government] will do whatever is needed to be done for the State,” he said.

Lambasting the Ministers and Congress MLAs for getting offices and bungalows repaired by spending crores of rupees when the State is reeling under severe drought, he said that the government has gone into sleeping mode and the Chief Minister and his Ministers are busy in transfers of officials.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bellad welcomed the High Court decision directing the State government to engage an independent agency to conduct fresh examinations to recruit police sub-inspectors.