Karnataka cabinet panel says 195 out of 237 taluks affected by drought
BENGALURU: The cabinet sub-committee on natural calamities on Wednesday recommended announcing 195 drought-hit taluks in the state out of a total of 237 taluks. The sub-committee head Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said this was, however, not the final list and that they would keep conducting surveys of more taluks based on rainfall to add them under the drought-hit list if they were found to fall under the category. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Byre Gowda said the sub-committee will send its recommendation to Chief Minister Siddaramiah.
Earlier the Cabinet sub-committee had recommended announcing 62 drought-hit taluks, while ordering surveys in 83 taluks and resurveys in 52 others where ground-truth-finding surveys were on. Based on the surveys and the previous announcement, 161 taluks were found falling under the Union government’s parameters. Although the other 34 taluks did not fall under the category, the sub-committee considered adding them to the list.
“Also, we are going to submit a memorandum to the Union government,” he said, adding that a Government order declaring the 195 taluks drought-hit would be issued soon.
Apart from these, 40 other taluks are facing a partial drought-like situation, but they do not fall under the parameters of the Union government.
“We will conduct surveys at these 40 taluks after 15 days including satellite images. Based on that, we will send a second list of drought-hit taluks,” he said.
They have time until October-end to send the list of drought-hit taluks, which means they will conduct a couple more surveys every 15 days before sending the list. “The existing 195 taluks announced is not the final list,” Byre Gowda said.
Speaking about compensation, the minister said the farmers are in distress due to the rain deficit. Presently, they have started preparing to constitute a task force at each taluk to tackle drinking water issues.
“Once we officially announce the drought-hit taluks, we are planning to increase work days for MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) for people in these taluks from the existing 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to 150 days. We have already discussed this with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department,” he said.
He, however, said that there was no shortage of fodder and money to supply drinking water.
Byre Gowda said there are about 40 taluks in the state which have received less rain, but do not fall under Central government parameters. In the satellite images they have received, green cover is noticed.
“But we do not know to what extent the crops have grown. We are taking help from all the agricultural universities and the horticulture university to study this and give us a report,” he said.
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Byre Gowda said the Central government’s parameters for taluks to qualify for drought-hit category are unscientific, and CM Siddaramaiah had written a letter to the PM. But he has not received a reply so far.
“The PM is not giving time to meet the CM. Because of them, the farmers are in distress as we are not able to get clarity,” he said.
He pointed out that the state has witnessed a shortage of 28% rainfall so far. “Malnad has witnessed a 40% shortage, which is shocking. This is also one of the reasons for low flow of water in the Cauvery basin,” he said.
