Karnataka underutilising Centre's funds: Jairam Ramesh

Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh on Friday lamented that the state government is lagging way behind other states in utilising the Centre’s schemes, especially the rural employment guarantee scheme.

Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha after conducting a review meeting on the progress of Centre-sponsored schemes, he said that in Andhra Pradesh, people have availed of loans up to Rs 8,000 crore whereas in Karnataka, the government facilitated distribution of only Rs 1,400 crore as loans.

He announced that henceforth, the money the woman labourer earns under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would be deposited in her bank account. Earlier, the money was deposited in the account of the head of the family, who is usually the male member.

He said the Union government is committed to giving Rs 2,133 crore under the MGNREGS scheme to Karnataka for the year 2013-14. As a first step, the Centre has released Rs 744.54 crore already, he added.

The minister pointed out that as much as Rs 354 crore is not utilised out of the allotted funds to the state government during last year. He expressed his dissatisfaction over misappropriation of funds by the BJP government.

He said rural road upgradation work would be taken up across the country at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore as the roads are damaged in the monsoon season. “CM Siddaramaiah has stated that as many as 1,103 villages in the state have no road connection. I will verify and take action in this regard,” he stated.