Drought team visit concludes

The Central Drought Team comprising 10 members met Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar here on Saturday and concluded its five-day long visit to drought-hit areas in the state.

The team was led by Managing Director Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium Pravesh Sharma.

Shettar briefed the Team on measures taken by the state government to tackle the drought.

Since December 2011, the Centre has sent three study teams to the state to asses drought. This year, the state government has declared as many as 142 taluks as drought-hit.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Team, Shettar claimed that the members had appreciated the state government’s efforts, including measures to protect cattle population during the prevailing drought.

The state government increased the supply of fodder to each cow from the present five kilograms to eight kilograms.

“The Team is expected to submit its report soon to the Centre. I have appealed the Central Team to recommend the Centre to release Rs 11,489 crore special assistance as per the revised memorandum submitted recently,” he said.

This included Rs 7,672 crore for short-term measures and another Rs 3,817 crore for long-term ones. The Central team visited six districts in two teams in the last four days, including Chamarajanagar, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Gadag, Koppal and Bijapur.

He rubbished the Congress claim that the state government had not spent enough from its exchequer to tackle drought.

“If need arises, the state government is ready to take one more all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” he said.