CM Siddaramaiah slams BJP for 'peddling lies' on Jal Jeevan Mission
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday slammed BJP alleging that it "betrayed Karnataka" with regard to the Jal Jeevan Mission by not releasing the funds it had announced for the state.
The Chief Minister specially targeted Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna charging that he was "peddling lies".
Media reports stated that Somanna told Lok Sabha that the state spent Rs 11,760 crore against the allocation of Rs 28,623 crore to Karnataka under the JJM.
"Union Minister Somanna is peddling lies to cover up the Union Government's deliberate sabotage of Jal Jeevan Mission in Karnataka!" Siddaramaiah said in a post on 'X'.
Siddaramaiah further said that the total allocation for JJM (in the state) was Rs 49,262 crore and in which the Centre's share was Rs 26,119 crore and the state's share was Rs 23,142 crore.
The total funds released was Ra 32,202 crore comprising central share of Rs 11,760 crore (that constitutes just 45 percent of its commitment) and the state's share Rs 20,442 (which constitutes "whopping 88.3 percent" of its commitment) crore and the total amount spent by the state was Rs 29,413 crore, he said in his post.
"Every rupee released by the Centre has been fully utilized by Karnataka. But the Modi Govt continues to block funds and deny Karnataka its rightful share." the Chief Minister alleged.
He further charged that the Centre's neglect continued in the financial year 2024-25.
"The Centre allocated Rs 3,804 crore but released a meager Rs 570 crore. Despite writing multiple letters no further funds have been released. Karnataka on the other hand has released Rs 4,977 crore from its own budget against an allocation of Rs 7,652 crore," Siddaramaiah said.
"This is not just Karnataka -- BJP's failure is national!" He added.
According to him the budget estimates for JJM during 2024-25 was Rs 70,163 crore. Revised estimates slashed to just Rs 22,694 crore, he alleged.
"The Narendra Modi government is systematically killing JJM while BJP leaders like Somanna shamelessly spread misinformation," he said.
Instead of misleading people, Somanna should question Prime Minister Narendra Modi on why Karnataka is being deprived of its due funds, Siddaramaiah said.
"The Congress Govt in Karnataka is delivering results despite BJP's sabotage. We are committed to ensuring safe drinking water for every household while the BJP-led Centre continues its step-motherly treatment of our state," he alleged.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
