CM Kumaraswamy promises to set up Kodagu Reconstruction Authority
Discussion with affected people
Madikeri, October 17: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday assured of taking necessary steps to constitute ‘Kodagu Reconstruction Authority’ to rehabilitate the affected people and reconstruct the entire district which was devastated in the natural disaster.
Participating in a discussion programme with the affected people, at Gandhi Maidan here, the CM said that the government was with the affected people. It was the duty and responsibility of the Coalition government to instill confidence among affected people and ensure permanent solution to their problem besides reconstructing the entire district. The government has already taken steps in this regard. The district minister and elected representatives from the district have demanded setting up of an Authority to reconstruct the damaged areas. Necessary steps would be taken to set up the authority, he said.
The MLAs of the district have appealed to construct houses at Rs 10 lakh each. Already, the government has disbursed Rs 1.03 lakh to each of the family which lost its house. Along with it, Rs 50,000 was being given for materials damage. Since it would take minimum seven to eight months to construct houses for those who lost houses, the government has decided to give Rs 10,000 per month for next ten months. Along with this, the government would spend Rs 6 lakh for construction of a house. Total, Rs 8.53 lakh would be spent for rehabilitating the affected people, he clarified.
Rs 50k to be credited to account
In order to respond to the problems of the affected people on humanitarian ground by keeping aside the NDRF norms, the government has decided to give Rs 50,000 immediate compensation to each of the affected family, for which Rs 6 crore was already released. The amount would be credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries in a couple of days. Now the government would spend Rs 6 lakh for constructing a house and if the beneficiaries came forward to construct the houses on their own along with their amount, they would be allowed to do it. There was no need to be panic. The government was committed to provide security to the family, he said appreciated the efforts of the elected representatives and officials of the district in handling the situation during natural disaster in the district.
Help through loan waiver scheme
Coffee growers and farmers have suffered a lot due to floods and natural disaster in the district. As per the NDRF norms, Rs 17,000 compensation could be given for each hectare. Was it possible to build the life in that amount? Now, the government has planned to extend the loan waiver scheme benefits to the coffee growers and farmers, he promised.
Banks are non-cooperative
If the nationalized banks cooperated with the government, the farmers would have benefitted with the loan waiver scheme. But though the heads of nationalized banks were asked to furnish the details of farm loans two months before, they have not provided the details. The banks have just been doing the work of serving notices. The Cabinet has approved the waiver of loan up to Rs 2 lakh. Even then, the nationalized banks were not cooperating with the government, he said.
Though the people of Kodagu were under distress, unlike other places, the farmers in the district have not taken extreme steps of committing suicide. He would oversee every rehabilitation work. He would also support the revival of tourism and hotel industry in the district, he said and appealed the people to celebrate the Dasara festival forgetting all bad incidents.
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Women's quota bill would have ensured defeat of democracy, Constitution: Aaditya Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said that the passage of the women's quota bill would have ensured a "total defeat of democracy", alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states.
Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories.
"The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs," he wrote.
The legislation should have been called "Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill", the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats.
"Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government," he wrote.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
