BENGALURU: To prepare the ground for declaring taluks that have received deficit rainfall as drought-hit taluks, the officials have been directed to do a crop survey and send the report to the State Government within 10 days.
After chairing the Cabinet sub-committee, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said standing crops in some parts of Karnataka face the risk of withering and the rain forecast for the last week of August is also not hopeful. “The Union Government has fixed criteria for declaring drought. Around 120 taluks in Karnataka have received deficit rains. But before declaring drought, crop survey has to be done as prescribed by the Centre,” he said.
The “Ground Truthing” or verification, which is essential for a realistic and credible determination of drought at the taluk level will be done by selecting 10 villages in each taluk. The officials will have to visit the spot to prepare the report on the status of five major crops in those villages and the DCs will send the reports to the State Government.
“We have instructed the officials to immediately start the survey by selecting 10 villages in each taluks as per the Centre’s guidelines and submit the report within 10 days. After getting the reports, we will convene a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee and look into the reports to take a decision on declaring drought-hit taluks,” he said.
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