Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has assured farmers that the state government will make sure all eligible beneficiaries get the promised drought relief assistance of Rs 5000.
When farmers complained that they were getting less compensation or not getting money in their bank accounts, Shivakumar said the government had already started payment and was trying to sort out issues faced by some beneficiaries.
Addressing reporters outside his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru, the Deputy Chief Minister said a fixed formula has been worked out for how much is payable to individual farmers. “Eligible farmers should not panic if money has not reached them yet as we are checking reasons behind delay,” he said.
The issue has come up after several farmers reportedly complained that they had received less drought relief than expected or not at all when they were eligible for assistance. Questions have also been raised whether the government has properly implemented its compensation programme or administrative mistakes have affected payments.
Shivakumar said government has decided to give ₹5,000 each eligible farmer under its assistance arrangement. “The amount has already been fixed and we want eligible farmers to get it without any problems,” he said.
Shivakumar explained the payment mechanism. There was a formula to transfer drought relief assistance into the bank accounts of farmers. Payments had been made to beneficiaries whose banking details were correct but some farmers did not get the amount because their account information was wrong.
Government is finding such cases and taking steps to correct it before processing again the payments (some differences in amounts credited to some accounts will be looked into and corrected wherever needed).
The Deputy Chief Minister made it very clear that the government was not ignoring farmers who had failed to receive the compensation. Officials were checking records and finding out why transactions had failed. He said the government would correct mistakes once verification was done and start payment process. His statement comes at a time when agricultural communities are watching government assistance closely after drought-related problems and financial pressure on farming households.
Shivakumar also rejected suggestions that farmers should be anxious because of social media posts and viral claims about compensation process. “There is no need to panic (because) if the Central Government didn’t give money, Karnataka government decided that under its commitment farmers would get up to Rs 5000,” he said adding that payment had already started and state would continue to work towards completing the transfers.
One of the important things that Shivakumar brought out was the condition of some bank accounts. When asked whether official negligence had caused payment problems he said it wasn’t necessarily so because in some cases there were incorrect or incomplete details in bank accounts, others were reportedly attached to loans already sanctioned and so on — all this had made it difficult to transfer the relief amount directly to beneficiaries.
He said the government was checking such accounts and looking at banking records. In some cases accounts linked to loans or other financial arrangements may need extra verification before money can be transferred successfully so authorities are apparently checking details of these accounts to make sure the assistance reaches intended beneficiaries. Verification is hoped to help identify genuine payment failures and not leave eligible farmers out of compensation programme.
The issue of bank accounts linked to agricultural loans is particularly acute because many farmers rely on bank financing for seeds, fertilisers, equipment and other farming expenses. When bank accounts are subject to loan restrictions or other problems then government benefit transfers can be problematic; availability of correct beneficiary details is therefore an important part of payment process. Government will have to work with banking institutions and local administrative officials to resolve such cases.
Meanwhile the drought relief issue has also become a political issue in Karnataka. BJP has questioned compensation payments and reportedly plans to hold protests against non-assistance to affected farmers.
Opposition leaders have questioned government’s handling of relief distribution and asked for clarity on how much is credited to beneficiaries. When reporters asked Shivakumar about BJP’s protest he left without answering directly.
The Deputy Chief Minister’s latest statement has given some relief to farmers who are waiting for money. He said the government is correcting banking errors and processing pending payments but farmers will have to wait to see how soon verification work is completed and whether the ₹5000 promised reaches all eligible beneficiaries. How successful the government really is will depend on account-related issues being sorted out and no deserving farmer left out of relief programme.
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