Karnataka to declare 101 taluks drought-hit, seeks central aid by month-end
Reiterating that 101 taluks will be declared 'drought-hit' in the first phase, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara on Thursday said Karnataka will submit its proposal to the Union government by the end of this month seeking drought assistance.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Dr. Parameshwara, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, said the State government will submit the memorandum to both the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister after assessing the overall loss owing to drought.
"The 2023 drought caused losses of around ₹39,000 crore in Karnataka. We had submitted a memorandum seeking ₹18,000 crore. After our protest and the Supreme Court's intervention, ₹3,500 crore was released. Such a situation should not arise again," he said.
He explained that as per the Centre's drought manual, there was a two-step trigger system that would combine rainfall data with ground-level assessment for the declaration of a drought. Accordingly, 134 taluks had qualified under Trigger-1 parameters owing to prolonged dryness for three weeks. However, the ground truthing exercise in these taluks pegged the number of eligible taluks to 101 for being declared as drought-hit, he noted. The ground truthing had been carried out at the hobli level, he said.
After the first phase, the situation will be reviewed every 15 days, he said, while indicating that the number of drought-hit taluks may increase.
He said the State was compelled to declare drought in phases owing to conditions in the Centre's drought manual. "The Trigger-1 norms prescribe dry spell for three weeks as eligibility criteria. If a taluk has experienced dry spell for two weeks and if it rains just once in the third week, that taluk will be ineligible to be considered as drought-hit even though the cultivation of crops has been affected," he explained.
From June 1 to August 26, Karnataka received only 465 mm of rainfall as against the normal 666 mm, recording a 30% deficit. With this, 190 taluks spread across 29 districts came under deficit to large deficit rainfall categories, while 12 experienced large deficit rainfall, he said.
Nearly 74% of the State, comprising 178 taluks, were facing severe soil-moisture stress that had affected crop growth. Of these, 86 taluks faced very severe moisture deficit and 92 were facing moderate deficit, he said.
Similarly, groundwater level had declined in 132 taluks compared with the decade average, and there were concerns that these levels could fall further. Dr. Parameshwara urged people to recognise the seriousness of the situation, prioritise groundwater conservation, and use water judiciously.
Dr. Parameshwara said, "Once a taluk is declared drought-affected, State Disaster Response Fund can immediately be utilised for drinking water supply. Further action on crop compensation will be taken after submitting the memorandum to the Union government."
To prevent distress migration, Karnataka has decided to deploy officials at bus stands and railway stations, according to Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara. He told presspersons on Thursday that the government was fully committed to take up drought-relief measures to insulate both humans and cattle. "To prevent distress migration owing to drought, 16,460 works have been taken up under the VB-G RAM-G scheme, generating 66.73 lakh person days of employment between July 1 and August 24. A significant number of these works are related to drought management," he said.
