Karnataka Health Minister Rao hopeful of resolving issues raised by docs, health staff
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday expressed hope to find a solution to the issues raised by KGMOA and other health department employees' associations as they have called for a statewide strike.
As part of the phased statewide agitation by Karnataka Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA), all Outpatient Department (OPD) services will be affected from March 11.
From March 16, doctors plan a complete boycott of duties, including emergency services, if the government fails to act.
"We have discussed with doctors and healthcare workers. We have spoken to them twice. Yesterday, we communicated the government's actions to them through our commissioner," Rao said in the Legislative Assembly.
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He said, "Their demands include issues pending for several years, such as Cadre and Recruitment Rules, the seniority list, and discrepancies in the last counselling, among others."
"We plan to resolve them. There are several other issues, I don't want to discuss now. We have called them for a meeting with the chief minister today. We will discuss and resolve what we can in the interest of the department and most importantly the public. I'm confident that the issue will be resolved soon," he added.
The minister was replying to a question raised by three MLAs, including BJP's Sunil Kumar during the question hour.
"With various demands, doctors across the state have called for an indefinite strike starting tomorrow. Supply of medicines, transfer policy and filling vacancies are the major issues they have raised," he said.
Noting that the doctors and healthcare staff have threatened to stop OPD operations from March 11 and emergency services from March 16, he said, "This is worrying. The heads of the doctors' and healthcare staff associations told the media that although they brought their issues to the government's attention a month ago, they have not been called for discussion to resolve the issue."
He further urged that the government should not take any drastic measures, like imposing Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), to curtail the strike. "The government should adopt negotiation instead of conflict. They should call them and resolve the issue immediately."
Congress MLA and chief whip Ashok Pattan said the strike by doctors and healthcare staff will affect the poor.
"The government should call the representatives of doctors and healthcare staff for a meeting and resolve their issues that can be solved immediately. They should also convince them that other issues would be addressed in stages," he said.
Another Congress MLA, Hampanagouda Badarli, also made a similar demand.
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LoP Ashoka accuses Karnataka govt of 'diverting' SC/ST funds for guarantees
Bengaluru (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, on Tuesday accused the state government of "diverting funds" meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the SCSP and TSP components to finance its guarantee schemes. He also alleged that the budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has undermined the principle of social justice.
During the discussion on the 2026–27 state budget in the assembly, the BJP leader claimed that substantial portions of funds earmarked for Dalit welfare had been diverted for other schemes over the past four years.
He also questioned the implementation of allocations under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), saying the government has "failed" to ensure that the money actually reached the intended communities.
“Today, the money here has been diverted. In this diversion of funds, social justice has been ignored. If the money meant for Dalits is looted, can that be called social justice?” he asked while criticising the government’s handling of SC/ST allocations.
According to the opposition leader, around Rs 14,198 crore had been diverted in the current financial year alone from SCSP and TSP allocations to various guarantee schemes announced by the government.
Listing the expenditure under these programmes, the former Deputy CM said Rs 8,296.32 crore had been allocated for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Rs 1,537 crore for Shakti, Rs 1,612 crore for Anna Bhagya, Rs 2,591.6 crore for Gruha Jyothi and Rs 1,062 crore for Yuva Nidhi.
“In total, Rs 14,198 crore has been diverted this year,” he said.
He further claimed that the diversion of funds had increased over the years.
“In 2023–24, Rs 11,144 crore was taken from SC/ST funds. In 2024–25, Rs 14,282.68 crore was taken. In 2025–26, Rs 13,343.84 crore was taken. In 2026–27, Rs 14,198.97 crore has been taken.”
“This amount keeps increasing year after year. In total, Rs 53,059.45 crore belonging to SC/ST communities has been taken during Siddaramaiah’s tenure,” he added.
Ashoka said that although the budget documents projected large allocations for Dalit welfare, the actual funds reaching the beneficiaries were significantly lower.
The government had earmarked Rs 44,632 crore for SC/ST communities in 2026–27, but once the diversion towards guarantee schemes was removed, the effective amount available was much less, he added.
The BJP leader also referred to a review meeting on January 31 to examine the utilisation of SCSP and TSP funds.
As per the review, Ashoka said only a part of the sanctioned amount had actually been released and spent.
“For SCSP, Rs 29,872 crore was allocated, but by January 27, only Rs 16,699 crore had been released, and the expenditure was Rs 15,391 crore."
Similarly, under the Tribal Sub-Plan, he alleged that Rs 11,900 crore had been allocated, but only Rs 6,521 crore was released and Rs 6,002 crore spent by the end of January.
“Even after eleven months, only about 50 per cent of the funds were released by the Finance department.”
Ashoka also criticised the allocation of SC/ST funds to departments and schemes that he said had little direct relevance to the welfare of those communities.
These included wildlife conservation programmes in the forest department, the tiger conservation project, maintenance of hospital buildings, and IT policy formulation.
“How are Dalits related to wildlife conservation? Are there SC tigers and ST elephants? How can funds meant for Dalits be used for tiger conservation?” he asked.
He also objected to funds being allocated from SC/ST components to institutions such as the Sanjay Gandhi Trauma and Orthopaedic Institute in Bengaluru and for Public Works Department buildings.
The opposition leader also charged that the government hiked taxes and prices of various commodities and services ranging from milk to petrol, vehicles, drinking water, sewerage cess, electricity, metro rail and bus fare, school and college fees, property taxes in Bengaluru, property e-Khata fee, A-Khata conversion, exam fee and birth and death certificate issuance.
“People are being taxed for digging cellar. The mines and geology department has issued notices to people. This is unheard of for me,” Ashoka said.
