Central team to submit report on drought in 1 week: Karnataka minister
The state has also requested the Centre to extend the number of employment days under MGNREGA from 100 to 150 in view of the drought.
Bengaluru

The 10-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) has wrapped up it tour to assess the drought situation in the state, revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda said on Monday, adding that it would submit a report in a week.
“The Central team conducted the field inspection of the prevailing drought situation in the state. In the next one week, the team will submit its report to the officers concerned. We are expecting that their report will do justice to the people of the state,” the minister said.
Karnataka is hopeful that the Centre will acknowledge what it has termed as a ‘Green Drought’ this year. A green drought is generally understood to mean a period when there is limited rainfall due to which there is growth of new plants, but the growth is insubstantial.
Expressing confidence that the Centre would consider the recommendations of the ICMT and release funds sought by the state government at the earliest, Gowda said, “We feel that the Central teams are convinced of the impacts of the drought situation after their field visits, interaction with farmers and elected representatives.”
The minister said they would be writing again to the Centre seeking an appointment with the agriculture minister and home minister to seek early release of funds. Karnataka has pegged the losses at ₹30,432 crore, and sought funds of ₹4,860 crore from the Union government.
Agriculture minister N Cheluvarayaswamy said that it was too early to say anything on the funds to be released by the Centre, however, hoped the Central team would respond positively to the state’s request. “In a democracy, we have to work together. I do not want to politicise this issue. Let us hope that the Centre is convinced and will react positively.”
Gowda said the cabinet sub-committee, which has already declared 195 taluks of the state as drought, has now directed the district authorities to carry out ground verification of 21 taluks from Tuesday and submit a report by Friday.
After the ground-truthing, eligible taluks will be declared as drought-affected, he added. Ground truthing refers to a survey of crops and other conditions in the region.
Gowda added that the state has appealed to the Centre to increase the employment days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from 100 days to 150 days in view of the severe drought situation prevailing in the state.
The state government has demanded that the Union government release approximately ₹475 crore, which has not been paid to the labourers who were employed under the MGNREGS.
Those who work as labourers are leading their lives in extreme poverty, the minister said, adding that they would be putting them into further distress by not paying them. Regarding increasing the employment days in the distress year, Gowda said there is a provision in the law that a labourer should get a job for 150 days instead of 100 days during drought.
“So, the state government sent a request letter to the Centre on September 23 that it should issue an order in this regard to extend the number of employment days from 100 to 150 in view of drought in the state.”
He said the Karnataka government has appealed to the Central team that the state is witnessing a peculiar climatic condition. There was 56% deficient rain in June, 28% excess rain in July, 73% less rain than average in August and 28% deficient rain in September, the minister pointed out.
“The Centre should take this strange climatic condition, especially the erratic monsoon, seriously. They should see whether other states too are witnessing the same trend. We have asked the Central team that they should pay special attention to address this erratic monsoon issue,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)

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