A three-member team of the Union government headed by D. Rajashekhar, Additional Advisor, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, visited the villages in Vijayanagara and Ballari districts and took stock of the drought situation on Saturday. R. Thakre, Director of Animal Husbandry, and Moti Ram, Assistant Commissioner of Rural Development, were part of the team.
Karee Gowda, Director, State Natural Disaster Management Centre, and Ballari Deputy Commissioner Prashant Kumar Mishra accompanied the team as the representatives of the State government.
“We spent thousands of rupees for the cultivation of crops just to see our standing crops getting destroyed owing to the drought. We will get nothing in return, not even the input costs. We are left with no option but to migrate to cities in search of livelihood options,” Timmappa, a farmer from Gollarahatti settlement at Bandri village limits in Sandur taluk of Ballari district said to the inspecting team.
The Central team members listened to the sufferings of the farmers and inquired how they were managing their families in the time of drought. They also asked the farmers if they had opted for crop insurance and obtained job cards to work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Pointing to his ragi field, a farmer told the team that the yield would drastically fall though the crop appeared to be healthy.
The team then visited Sriram Shetty village and met the family members of Bhangi Kantappa, who had died by suicide last month owing to indebtedness. After getting details of the financial condition of the family and the causes that forced Mr. Kantappa to take the extreme step, the team told the family members to stay confident and courageous as the government would always be with the people in distress. “The government is with you. You need not worry. You should not think of taking extreme steps such as ending your lives. The government will do everything to protect you,” a member of the team told the family.
Before visiting the villages, Mr. Mishra briefed the team about the drought conditions in the district at Kudligi Guest House. Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Rahul Sharanappa Sankanur, Assistant Commissioner Hemanth Kumar and officers from the departments of agriculture and horticulture were present.
Earlier in the day, the team visited a few drought-hit villages in Vijayanagara district along with the Vijayanagara Deputy Commissioner M.S. Diwakar.
“The area is facing severe drought conditions. We will give an objective report to the Union government which will take further relief measures,” the team members said after their field visit.
Mr. Diwakar said that agriculture crops on 4.69 lakh hectares and horticulture crops on 4,000 hectares were affected by the drought in the district. “Maze constitutes 60% of the total crops destroyed in the drought in the district. We have given complete information to the Central team,” he told the media.
