Bengaluru, February 26 (IANS). Responding to Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar’s statement that ‘guarantee schemes are a burden on the state government’, Large and Medium Industries Minister MB Patil on Thursday said the rich should not take advantage of these welfare schemes. These schemes are not a burden but a part of development.
MB Patil said, “Guarantee schemes are not a burden, they are part of development. We are spending Rs 60,000 crore on these schemes, as we had assured the people of the state.”
He further said that these guarantee schemes are pro-poor schemes and many people have benefited from them. There is no burden on the government due to guarantee schemes. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will manage the finances.”
Home Minister Mr. Commenting on the issue, Parameshwara said, “Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar is the president of our state. When we went to the elections, we all together prepared the manifesto. I was the chairman of the manifesto committee and the manifesto was prepared collectively. He may have expressed his opinion on the basis of available information. He may know many things which others do not know. It is in this context that he may have said this.”
Asked about the appeal to the rich not to take advantage of the guarantee schemes, Parameshwara said no classification on the basis of income was made while implementing the schemes. It was assumed that the affluent people would not take advantage of these schemes. However, now even rich people are taking advantage of them. Owners of 100 acres of land are also receiving monthly assistance of Rs 2,000.
He further said, “We remember that at the national level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to the economically well-off people to voluntarily give up LPG subsidy. Similarly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also given the message.”
Amid criticism from the BJP that the five guarantees of the Congress government are pushing Karnataka towards bankruptcy, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, while addressing the ‘Kusuma Sanjeevani’ initiative providing preventive treatment for haemophilia patients, said that though these schemes are cumbersome, the government wants to ensure that people do not face mental stress due to financial difficulties.
–IANS
OP/DKP