JD(S) slams Krishna govt on drought

raichur: janata dal (secular) leader and former deputy chief minister siddaramaiah on thursday criticised the state government for its "abject failure" in sending a report on the drought situation to the union government. he told reporters: ``emaciated cattle have been left to fend for themselves, labourers are fleeing the barren land to eke out a living and farmers are resorting to suicide unable to face the harsh reality.but the government is yet to wake up to the tragedy unfolding in the state.'' he recalled that the janata dal government had in 1995-96 kicked off many development works for farmers and interest on crop loans was written off to ease their burden. ``the farmers, who are already reeling under the onslaught of general agreement on trade and tariffs and the world trade organisation rules, have now been subjected to drought and the government is not offering any help.'' siddaramaiah castigated four union ministers from karnataka -- including dhananjaya kumar and ananth kumar -- and wondered whether they were doing anything in real terms to mitigate the sufferings of farmers. ``instead of bailing out the farmers, the state government has increased power tariff. the hike should be kept in abeyance. the janata dal (secular) will launch an agitation if the government fails to convert short-term loans into long-term ones and write off interest on crop loan.'' earlier, a team of janata dal (secular) functionaries studied drought situation at jambaladinni village in raichur taluk. party leaders b.g. patil, mahadevappa, muniyappa muddappa, gangadhar nayak and shaik rizwan accompanied siddaramaiah.