The package will benefit flower farmers, handloom weavers, washermen, barbers, taxi and auto drivers and MSMEs in Karnataka
Karnataka Cheif Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on May 6 announced a Rs 1610-crore relief package for various sectors and people including industries, flower farmers, handloom weavers, taxi and auto drivers who have been affected in the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown for the past one and half months. The chief minister also requested the migrant workers not to leave the state as the construction work reopened. “We have sent around 1 lakh people in 3500 buses and trains, back to their hometowns. I have also appealed to the migrant workers to stay as the construction work has resumed now,” he said.
A one-time compensation of Rs 5,000 each will be given to the 60,000 washermen and about 2,30,000 barbers in both rural and urban areas affected due to the lockdown. Similarly, a one-time relief of Rs 5,000 will be provided to the 7,75,000 auto and taxi drivers around the state. To compensate the 54,000 distressed handloom weavers, the chief minister announced that each of them would get Rs 2000 a year. Flower farmers have also expressed their distress over their crops drying up on the fields due to a decrease in market demands. To help them, the government will be giving a one-time compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare subjected to a maximum limit of one hectare for the loss. In Karnataka, an estimated 11,687 hectares of land is under flower cultivation.
To bring some relief to the MSMEs, which have suffered immense production losses due to the lockdown, the chief minister announced that their monthly fixed charges for electricity bills will be waived off for two months. Similarly, payment of fixed charges in the electricity bills of the large industries would be deferred without penalty and interest for two months. “It will take some time to revive them”, Mr Yediyurappa said.
