Expressing concern over the impact of deficient monsoon on agriculture, the principal Opposition BJP on Tuesday urged the government to declare the State as drought-hit at least for agriculture purposes.
Raising the issue in the Assembly, BJP members led by former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed concern that farmers of the State, particularly those from the northern region, were in dire straits due to deficient monsoon. Though there was more rain in some parts now, majority of northern Karnataka was still facing prolonged dry spell, Mr. Bommai said.
Also, even in the areas that are receiving some rains now, the rainfall was not timely, he said, while expressing concern that agricultural operations like sowing was affected due to this.
In fact, the State had seen sowing of only 16.6% of the targeted area so far, he said, while pointing out that only 1.14 lakh hectares of the total seven lakh targeted area had been sown.
He urged the government to take the issue seriously and declare drought for agricultural purposes to protect the interests of farmers.
Alleging that funds allocated for drinking water purposes were not adequate, he demanded that every Assembly constituency should get a minimum of ₹1 crore to tackle water shortage.
He also took exception to the Agriculture Minister’s stand that farmers’ suicides were lesser when compared with the previous year. “It is not a proper approach to take such a stand. Instead, the Minister should be concerned that such a trend is still continuing and try to help farmers by adopting a humane approach,” he said.
Cautioning the government that any failure to take the drought issue seriously will affect farmers, he sought permission to debate the issue through an adjournment motion that has censuring clause. However, Speaker U.T. Khader said he would permit them to take up the issue under another clause and assured the members of allowing a discussion shortly.
