Drought: Teams to submit report to Centre in 10 days

Central inter-ministerial teams wind up tour of affected areas in State

For use in the issue of February 13
 Central team members and MP Pralhad Joshi interacting with women who had come to get drinking water supplied through tankers at Rottigawad village in Dharwad district on Sunday

It may take at least 10 days for the central inter-ministerial teams that are on a tour of drought-affected districts of Karnataka to submit a comprehensive report with their observations to the Union government.

Split into three teams, the central teams visited drought affected places in the State, and will reach Bengaluru on Monday. While one team toured Dharwad and Haveri districts on Sunday, another team was in Raichur district for the same purpose.

As per the team members it may take at least a week for each of the three teams to compile reports, and the team head for Karnataka might take another three days to compile the report and submit a comprehensive report.

The teams heard a deluge of complaints from farmers about withered crops, the difficulty they were facing owing to dried up waterbodies and related issues.

On Sunday, a teams comprising the Under Secretary to Union Ministry of Rural Development, S.B. Tiwari, Assistant Adviser to Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Salim Haider, and Deputy Director of Central Electricity Authority, Kamal Chavhan, did a reality check of the situation in Dharwad and Haveri districts. Speaking to presspersons after the visit, the team members said that situation of farmers and cattle was pathetic and drought was severe.

As the team members accompanied by State government officials, MP Pralhad Joshi and MLA N.H. Konaraddi, interacted with farmers. The team members witnessed long queues of people waiting for drinking water supplied through tankers. In Haveri district, the dried up Varada near Kunimellihalli made the team members aware of the severity of the drought.

In Raichur

A team comprising of Manager of Indian Food Division of Bangalore Divisional Office N. Chatru Nayak, Joint Director of Central Oil Seeds Development Directorate, Hyderabad, K. Ponnuswamy, and Officer of Fodder Agriculture division of Central Animal Husbandry department, Vijay Thakare, visited fields in Santekellur, Hesarur in Lingasugur taluk and Mattur village of Manvi taluk of Raichur district. They also visited the goshalas.

Mr. Nayak told presspersons that they would collect further information from the State government officials in Bengaluru before compiling their report. Deputy Commissioner of Raichur Goutam Bagadi told the team that standing crops on the 1.94 lakh ha had been damaged in the rabi season causing loss to the tune of ₹151 crore.