Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar on Saturday asked the district administration to prepare an action plan on the relief measures to be taken in the areas affected by shortage of rainfall.
Addressing a progress review meeting on drought relief measures here, he said that information related to short-term crops that farmers could cultivate in the areas facing serious deficit of rain, measures needed to be taken to ensure access to fodder to farmers engaged in animal husbandry and strategies to address the drinking water crisis should be incorporated in the action plan. Prior to preparing the action plan, the officials of Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry departments should visit each gram panchayat, assess ground realities and interact with local people. Special meetings of taluk panchayats should be held immediately to discuss drought relief measures, he said. The State government had decided to release Rs. 25 lakh each to all taluks for tackling drought. He asked the Deputy Commissioner to prepare a list of works that could be undertaken with the fund. Maize crop cultivated in a large tract of land was wilting owing to shortage of rain, he said and directed the Department of Agriculture officials to take up initiatives like distribution of sprinklers and diesel pump sets at subsidised price among farmers to save the standing crops.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture K. Madhusudan said that in the wake of deficient rain in the district this year, farmers engaged in paddy cultivation had been asked to cultivate short-term varieties of paddy like MTU 1001, MTU 1010, IR 64 and JGL 1,798. Adeqate stock of seeds of these varieties had been maintained at all Raith Sampark Kendras. The department would create awareness among farmers to adopt the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method to ensure economic utilisation of water, he said.
Mr. Rathnakar directed the officials of the Department of Agriculture to create awareness among the farmers on short-term varieties of paddy and SRI method of cultivation by distributing pamphlets through Raith Samparka Kendras.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa, member of Rajya Sabha Ayanur Manjunath, Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal, Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat Sasikanth Senthil and Superintendent of Police Koushalendra Kumar were present.
