As of date, Karnataka is facing a 26% overall rain deficit.
DH File Photo
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said on Monday that sixty-two out of the 113 taluks in the state where ground truthing (crop survey) was done qualify for drought.
The Cabinet sub-committee on disaster management, headed by Gowda, has decided to take up a re-survey in the rest of the taluks as the crop crisis has “worsened” after the initial survey.
Gowda said the first survey of the 113 taluks was taken up based on the rain deficit as of August 19. In these taluks, there was a 60% rain deficit and a dry spell for three weeks, qualifying them for the survey as per the Centre’s norms.
Among them, 62 taluks qualify for drought, based on the ground-truthing survey. An extent of 13,000 hectares was surveyed and South interior Karnataka seemed to have been hit more than other regions, according to the minister.
“However, we have received inputs from both local representatives and farmer leaders from taluks that did not qualify for the drought that the crop situation has worsened after the ground-truthing. Hence, the Cabinet sub-committee has decided to take up a re-survey in these taluks,” the minister said.
In addition, a fresh survey will be taken up in 83 taluks that qualify for ground-truthing as of September 2, he added.
The committee has instructed the DCs to complete the survey within a week and the official drought declaration will be done for all the qualifying taluks put together after the report is ready.
These reports will also be placed before the Cabinet for ratification, only after which drought will be officially declared, Gowda said. Once that’s done, a drought memorandum will be sent to the Centre and a task force will be set up in drought-hit taluks, headed by the local representatives.
As on date, there is an overall rain deficit of 26% in the state. Since the sowing window is over, even if there are rains now, it will not help in the recovery of crop losses now, Gowda pointed out.
Further, while there is no larger drinking water crisis in the state, 37 taluks and 105 villages had drinking water issues and the government is ready with a contingency plan in case the problem deepens, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge said.