BENGALURU: Following drought in more than half the taluks of Karnataka, a 10-member inter ministerial central team will visit the drought-hit regions from November 17 to 19. The team will be headed by Amitabh Gautam, Joint Secretary to Government of India, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and will visit Raichur, Yadgir, Kolar and other affected areas.
Owing to deficient rainfall during the South West monsoon season, 100 taluks in the state were declared drought hit. Following the same, the state sought Rs 2,434 crore as relief. According to Revenue Minister R V Deshpande, the 10-member team has been divided into three teams that will visit various parts of the state to assess the extent of drought and losses suffered by farmers. While one team under Amitabh Gautam will visit Yadgir, Raichur, Ballari and Davangere districts, a second team will visit Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura and Gadag. A third team will visit Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru and Chitradurga.
“The state has declared 100 taluks as drought-hit. Apart from it, a delegation of ministers from the state, including Agriculture Minister N H Shivashankar Reddy and I had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking Rs 2,434 crore as relief from the National Disaster Relief Fund,” he said.