The State government has sought relief of Rs. 779.2 crore from the Centre under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to tackle droughts and provide compensation to farmers who lost crops owing to insufficient rainfall.
A total of 35 taluks have been declared drought-hit.
Revenue Minister V. Srinivas Prasad and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday held a meting with a Central team, led by R.B. Sinha, Joint Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. The team visited drought-hit taluks and assessed damage to various crops.
The Ministers said the estimated crop loss owing to drought in the State has been estimated at Rs. 3,589.7 crore. The amount spent by the State government was Rs. 28.5 crore.
Since the Congress came to power in the State, five memorandums had been submitted to the Centre seeking relief of Rs. 3,754 crore but the State had received only Rs. 327 crore till now, Mr. Prasad said.
The State had spent Rs. 972 crore on its own to provide relief to farmers affected by floods and droughts, he added.
