Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah at the pre-cabinet meet at Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday. (News18)
The Chief Minister also asked the Ministers of the concerned departments to submit a detailed report received from their officers and share the salient points regarding the financial position and methods.
A crucial Karnataka cabinet meeting on the implementation of Congress’ five pre-poll guarantees has been postponed from Thursday to Friday, giving the opposition another chance to attack the party. But ahead of the cabinet meeting, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues at Vidhana Soudha to discuss the way forward on the implementation of the guarantee.
Ministers who attended the closed-door pre-cabinet meeting told News18 that there was a brief discussion on ways to implement the guarantee. The Chief Minister also asked the Ministers of the concerned departments to submit a detailed report received from their officers and share salient points regarding the financial position and mode.
Siddaramaiah asked the Finance Department officials to attend the meeting and share the report on how much fund remains unspent and the government would require additional funds to implement the guarantee.
Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma was seen explaining the proposed implementation plan of guarantees to the CM during the meeting.
During its election campaign, the Congress promised 200 units of free electricity supply a month to households, Rs 2,000 per month to every female head of household, 10 kg free rice to low-income families, free bus travel for women and monthly stipends. had promised. For unemployed graduates and diploma holders.
promised price
Minister Ramalinga Reddy vowed to fulfill Congress’ poll guarantee of free bus travel for all women in the state. “One of the five guarantees is from our department. Whatever the expenditure, the government will give. As we said, the government will ensure free travel for all women. The picture will be clear in the cabinet meeting and the Chief Minister will share more details.
Sources in four road transport corporations – Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) told News18 that the department if If women travel free in their buses then they will have to pay around Rs 4,700 crore annually.
Along with this, the Energy Department has estimated the cost of providing 200 units of free electricity to 214 lakh families at Rs 12,038 crore. The monthly cost of Anna Bhagya Yojana to provide 10 kg free rice to each member of 1.27 crore BPL families would be over Rs 10,000 crore. The government will have to spend the least amount of money on Yuva Nidhi (unemployment benefit), which is estimated to cost Rs 1,200 crore. Meanwhile, experts have estimated that the implementation of all the five guarantees would cost the exchequer more than Rs 52,000 crore.
open attack
As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state is attacking the Congress for allegedly cheating the people of the state by coming up with conditions to implement the guarantee, Home Minister G Parameshwara said, “I How can I say that the decision will come soon with the cabinet.”
Meanwhile, BJP leaders in various districts are running a campaign asking people not to pay electricity bills as the Congress had promised free electricity to all during the assembly elections.
Former BJP MLA Renukacharya has also warned the Congress government that he would soon launch a protest if the Siddaramaiah-led government fails to implement the five guarantees.