A total of 195 taluks out of the 236 in Karnataka will be declared as drought-hit owing to deficient rainfall during the southwest monsoon.
A Cabinet sub-committee on disaster management, which met here on Wednesday, said the list of drought-hit taluks would be released after the consent of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The panel has decided to recommend to Mr. Siddaramaiah declaring 195 taluks as drought-hit, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who heads the Cabinet sub-committee, told reporters after the meeting. A memorandum to the Union government would be prepared in the next seven to ten days.
What guidelines says
As per the Union government’s guidelines, Karnataka has 161 taluks suffering from “severe” drought. Another 34 taluks have “moderate” drought.
Noting that crops are wilting away in moderate drought taluks, the panel has decided to recommend declaring them as drought-affected. Under the guidelines, ‘moderate drought’ is a separate category. The Central government may or may not provide grants to taluks under this category, Mr. Gowda said.
Once drought was declared, task forces would be constituted in the affected taluks and funds provided to arrange tankers and rent borewells to supply drinking water. Farmers would be given free fodder and seeds for which ₹20 crore had been sanctioned, he said.
Deputy Commissioners have ₹492 crore that they could use for drinking water supply, Mr. Gowda said.
Water drinking issue
Rural Development Minister Priyank Kharge said the drinking water problem was not a severe problem right now and the department would give ₹1 crore to each zilla panchayat. Under the contingency plan, ₹7 crore had been released, he said.
In the drought-hit taluks, the number of person-days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme would be increased from 100 to 150.
