Karnataka Congress legislative party chief Siddaramaiah is sworn in as chief minister by Governor H R Bhardwaj in Bangalore yesterday.
Bangalore: A victorious Congress yesterday rained goodies in Karnataka within hours after its state’s legislative party leader Siddaramaiah took oath as the 28th Chief Minister in front of massive crowds at a public venue here.
Returning to power in the southern state after nine years, the Congress sought to reward the electorate, especially the weaker sections with cheaper rice, higher milk subsidy, higher housing credit and loan waivers at a burden of Rs441bn to the state’s exchequer.
“About 10.4 million people comprising the poor, farmers, SCs, STs, BCs and minorities will benefit from some of the promises we made in our election manifesto and implementing as our commitment,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after meeting top officials at the secretariat in Vidhana Soudha.
Asserting that all the promises, polices and programmes made in the party manifesto would be implemented during the next four years, he announced that 30kg of rice would be sold at Re1 per kg to BPL (below poverty line) families across the state from June 1.
“The subsidised rice scheme will benefit 9.82 million BPL families in rural and urban areas and will cost the exchequer Rs46bn per annum,” Siddaramaiah said at his maiden press conference as chief minister.
Similarly, a subsidy of Rs4 per litre of milk will be given to dairy producers, which will cost the state Rs49.6bn per annum.
“The milk subsidy is being doubled to Rs4 per litre from Rs2 with effect from today (Monday) and will benefit about 7.5 lakh producers or farmers across the state,” Siddaramaiah said.
Hinting that some more promises would be addressed in the budget he would present in June, the 64-year-old chief minister announced waiver of loans with interest to the tune of Rs122.5bn that would benefit 1.03 million people belonging to the STs (Scheduled Castes), STs (Scheduled Tribes), OBCs, (Other Backward Classes) and minorities across the state.
Of the total beneficiaries, 1.87 lakh belong to SCs, 4,078 to STs, 4.98 lakh to OBCs and three lakh to minorities. The outstanding loans of SCs are Rs18.6bn, STs Rs16.3bn, OBCs Rs51.4bn and minorities Rs36.2bn.
The beneficiaries are given loans by the central and state governments under the Ambedkar Development Corporation, ST Deveopment Corporation, Devaraj Urs Development Corporation and Minorities Development Corporation.
Siddaramaiah also announced Rs45,000 increase in housing loans to Rs120,000 from Rs75,000 per unit under central and state schemes that will benefit 2.7 lakh poor families in rural and urban areas and cost the exchequer Rs196bn per annum.
“As promised in the manifesto, Rs26.8bn outstanding electricity bills under the subsidised Bhagyajyoti scheme will be written off to benefit two million poor people.
IANS
