Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah announced on Saturday that the state would receive Rs 3,498.82 crore in drought relief funds from the central government to address the parched groundwater conditions.
After a prolonged legal battle and numerous petitions, the Union Finance Ministry agreed to release the funds for calamity relief following the Supreme Court's intervention.
In a statement on the X platform, Siddaramaiah expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court, noting that it was unprecedented for a state to have to resort to legal action to secure its entitlements.
However, the Chief Minister criticized the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), suggesting that their response was tardy until the Supreme Court intervened.
While Siddaramaiah appreciated the release of funds, he deemed the sanctioned amount as insufficient. The state had originally requested Rs 18,000 crore but received only Rs 3,498.82 crore, which he labeled as "woefully inadequate."
In March, the Karnataka government approached the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to release funds from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to help the state tackle the crisis.
Earlier this month, Siddaramaiah and Union Home Minister Amit Shah engaged in a public disagreement over the issue. Siddaramaiah accused the BJP-led central government of neglecting and unjustly treating the people of Karnataka, while Shah attributed the delay to the Congress government in the state for not promptly submitting the relief fund proposal.
Reports indicated that Bengaluru faced a severe water shortage in March, with a deficit of 500 million liters of water per day (MLD) against the required 2,600 MLDs. Approximately half of the city's borewells had reportedly dried up out of a total of 14,000.
