Three members of the delegation led by Ajit Kumar Sahu (IAS), the Joint Secretary of the Central Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, have arrived in the state to assess the drought situation. They are scheduled to visit Vijayanagar and Bellary districts on the 7th.
Bellary District Collector Prashant Kumar Mishra has organized a team of officers to determine the specific locations in Sandur taluk that the central team should visit. S.N. Rudresh, the Chancellor of Vijayanagar Srikrishna Devaraya University, along with Mallikarjun, the Joint Director of the Agriculture Department, and Santosh Sappandi, the Deputy Director of the Horticulture Department, will finalize the locations and inform the Collector. The official list of districts to be toured by the central team is expected to be ready by Thursday evening.
The Karnataka government has officially declared drought in 195 out of 236 taluks across the state due to a significant rainfall deficit during the Southwest monsoon season. To assess the extent of the drought situation, a 10-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) led by Ajeet Kumar Sahu, IAS, Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, will embark on a four-day visit to 13 drought-affected districts in Karnataka, starting from Thursday.
The IMCT will be divided into three groups and visit districts including Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Gadag, Koppal, Ballari, Vijayanagara, Chickballapur, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Davanagere, and Bengaluru Rural.
Accompanying the team are D. Rajasekhara, Additional Advisor from the Central Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, V.R. Thackeray, Director of the Animal Husbandry Department, and Motiram, Assistant Commissioner from the Rural Development Department. Kari Gowda, the Director of the Karnataka State Disaster Management Center (Revenue), will also be part of the team.
The team will fly to Hubli from Bangalore on the 5th and begin their drought monitoring activities on the 6th, after receiving information from the Gadag district collector. They will then gather information from the Koppal District Collector and conduct crop observations, with an overnight stay planned in Munirabad.
On the morning of the 7th, the team will reach Hospet in Vijayanagar district, where they will collect information from the Vijayanagar and Bellary District Collectors. The schedule, prepared by the Bellary District Collector, includes visits to some villages in Sandur taluk to assess the drought situation. Subsequently, they will visit Kudligi taluk in Vijayanagar district to study the monsoon conditions. The central team members will spend the night in Hospet and travel to Bangalore by road on the 8th.
On the final day of their visit, which is October 9, the team members will engage in discussions with senior officials and relevant Ministers in Bengaluru, as per the government’s schedule.
Under the Central government’s guidelines, Karnataka is facing severe drought conditions in 161 taluks, while another 34 taluks are experiencing moderate drought. The total estimated loss resulting from the drought in Karnataka is approximately ₹30,432 crore. Of this, agricultural crop losses account for ₹27,867.17 crore, and horticulture crop losses stand at ₹2,565.7 crore. Consequently, the state government intends to request ₹4,860.13 crore in relief funds from the Centre, following the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms.
In accordance with NDRF norms, Karnataka is eligible to claim ₹3,824.67 crore for agricultural crop losses and ₹206.39 crore for horticultural crop losses. Furthermore, the government aims to secure ₹126.36 crore for establishing 624 fodder banks, ₹104.33 crore for 195 cattle centers, ₹25 crore for providing nutritious food, ₹50 crore for fodder-seeds supply, ₹284.4 crore for rural drinking water supply over 180 days, and ₹213.98 crore for urban drinking water supply.
Due to the severity of the drought, the government has already proposed an extension of the working days for MGNREGA workers from 100 to 150 as a measure to address the situation.
