North Karnataka: Team to submit report on drought to Centre in March

Belagavi: A team of the union government reviewing drought-hit areas of north-Karnataka region will be submitting its assessment report to the Centre in March first week prior to which the team will hold a meeting with the state government on Sunday on completion of its survey of affected areas in the state.

The team headed by deputy secretary of Union Energy Ministry K.K. Mishra, reviewed several drought-hit areas of Belagavi and Vijayapur during the last two days and sent several photos on the situation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Watsapp.

Many farmers and senior officials who accompanied the team to Athani, Raibag, Gokak, Bailhongal, Saudatti and Ramdurg, which are badly affected by drought, informed the team that these places suffered more than 92 per cent crop losses. A large portion of agriculture land in the drought-hit Belagavi and Vijayapur region has been rain-dependent where farmers faced massive crop losses due to scanty rainfall. Joint Director of Agriculture Department V.J. Patil briefed the team on the worsening situation in dry belts of Belagavi region.

According to officials, Belagavi region recorded crop losses estimated at Rs 150 crore. Most crops sown in the drought-prone areas withered or failed due to failure of the monsoon, they said while disclosing that wheat, jowar and cereals sown in 2.10 lakh hectare during rabi were totally damaged apart from damage to crops sown in another 3.49 lakh hectare during kharif in Belagavi.