As many as 98 taluks in 26 districts in the State will be declared drou-ght-hit following the failure of the southwest monsoon.
Briefing reporters on the Cabinet decision, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said several parts of the State had witnessed a dry spell for more than one and a half months. Sixteen districts have received deficit rainfall and farmers have not been able to commence the kharif sowing operation in these places. Ten out of 16 affected districts are in North Karnataka. Yadgir, Gadag, Kalaburagi, Raichur and Vijayapura are the worst-affected districts. Water level in all the 13 important reservoirs, including Krishnarajasagar and Almatti, is low. The government will soon approach the Centre for financial assistance, the minister said.
The Cabinet sub-committee on drought has been directed to assess the situation and submit a detailed report on the effects of drought. Chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee has been directed to monitor the situation and issue appropriate directions to the deputy commissioners of all the districts on mitigating people’s problems in the affected places.
The government has already released Rs 200 crore for taking up relief measures. About Rs 75 crore will be spent on supply drinking water through tankers and Rs 75 crore will be spent on energising the drinking water borewells, he said.
Maritime Board Bill
Jayachandra said the Cabinet had decided to take back the Karnataka Maritime Board Bill 2011, currently pending before the President, and introduce a new piece of legislation. The bill envisages development of ports under public-private partnership by setting up a maritime board.
The plan was to entrust the responsibility of finding ways and means to undertake various developmental projects and maintenance activities of ports, harbours, inland waterways and development of coastal region to the board. It also had a provision for the development and maintenance of fishing harbours.
The Cabinet approved a proposal to convert a stretch of road between Gun House in Mysuru city and Nanjangud road junction of NH-212 into a four-lane route. Rs 17.20 crore will be spent for the purpose. The Cabinet also gave its administrative approval to the rules framed for enforcing the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses Act, 2012.
Reservoir levels
Name of Gross storage Present storage
the reservoir capacity (TMC) as on Aug 11 (TMC)
Linganamakki 151.75 66.05
Supa 145.33 64.78
Varahi 31.13 17.67
Harangi 8.50 8.31
Hemavathi 37.10 28.62
KRS 49.45 28.64
Kabini 19.52 17.60
Bhadra 71.53 50.01
Tungabhadra 100.86 69.57
Ghataprabha 51.00 19.52
Malaprabha 37.73 12.43
Almatti 123.08 72.45
Narayanapura 33.31 26.47
Rainfall pattern as on August 11
Percentage
District departure of rainfall
1. Vijayapura -63
2. Raichur -61
3. Yadgir -55
4. Bagalkot -52
5. Kalaburagi -51
6. Bidar -50
7. Gadag -44
8. Koppal -41
9. Belagavi -41
10. Dharwad -39
11. Haveri -29
12. Ballari -27
13. Chikkaballapur -24
14. Chamarajanagar -23
15. Ramanagara -22
16. Kolar -22