Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he was not very hopeful of the Union Budget scheduled to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.

He recalled that the Centre had failed to release any funds towards Upper Bhadra project for which Ms. Sitharaman had announced ₹5,300 crore in the last Budget. “No money has been given till now. When they have not given what was promised, what can we expect?” he said.

Mr. Siddaramaiah reiterated his charge about injustice to Karnataka in devolution of taxes. Even though a total of ₹4.5 lakh crore tax is collected from Karnataka, the State is allocated only ₹60,000 crore. “For every rupee we contribute, we are given only 13 or 14 paise,” he lamented, while also regretting the Centre’s decision to cut NABARD grants for the State.

Microfinance institutions

With regard to the harassment of people from microfinance institutions, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the State government will start taking stringent action against such financial institutions and lending agencies that harass people during recovery of loans.

He claimed that some microfinance institutions were levying an annual interest of 28% to 29%, which some loanees are unable to pay and hence succumbing to suicide.

With regard to the BJP’s allegation that there was “goonda raj” in the State, where goons were let loose by microfinance agencies to recover dues from people, Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed out that the microfinance institutions functioned under the regulations of the RBI, which comes under the control of Centre.