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With yet another year of drought looming large over Karnataka, the state government has initiated a slew of measures to tackle the situation. The state as a whole has received an actual amount of 149 mm rainfall as against the normal rainfall of 268 mm, a shortage of 45 per cent between June 1 and July 8.
Among many measures to tackle the situation, the state government is set to defer the process of recovery of agricultural loans of farmers availed from cooperative institutions. The authorities would be directed to reschedule short-term agricultural loans to medium and long-term periods to reduce the pressure on farmers who have been affected due to the shortage of rains.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah announced in the legislative Assembly last week that the government was gearing up to face the emergent drought-like situation.
He said deputy commissioners in the districts had been directed to give importance to ensure adequate supply of drinking water in villages. They have been told to sink borewells wherever there is a shortage of potable water.
“The state government is ready to face the situation and protect the interests of farmers. There is no dearth of money and the government will give money to solve the problems related to drought,” he said.
Siddaramaiah expressed hope there was still time for rains to occur in the remaining period of the monsoon season. The government would face any eventuality, he added.
Revenue minister V Srinivasa said the government had put in place a contingency plan to tackle the drought situation. The state had been reeling under drought for the last three years and the government had been taking measures to tackle the situation, he said in the Assembly.
The state has banned the use of water in its reservoirs and major tanks for non-drinking purposes, including irrigation, in an effort to conserve water, according to him.
Even though the state received good pre-monsoon rains, the shortage of rains in June affected the sowing operations. The state received the lowest-ever rainfall in June in the last 52 years, he said adding that such a dire situation has occurred only three or four times in the last 100 years.
The storage level in the reservoirs has reached its lowest and out of 864 tmcft water from all the reservoirs combined, the present level stood at 166 tmcft. Last year at this time, the level stood at 254 tmcft, he said.
An area of 2.03 million hectares was sown by June 30, 2014 as against the normal area of 2.53 million hectares in the state, a shortage of 20 per cent compared to the normal sowing. The state has set a target of sowing over 7.4 million hectares in the kharif season.
As on June 30, 2014, the sowing status was above normal in 10 districts, normal in 11 districts and below normal in nine districts.
Due to the deficit rainfall, the already sown rainfed crops were wilting in the districts of Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Ramanagar, Dharwad, Bellary, Gadag and Yadgiri. The state government is giving instructions to farmers to grow short-term crops like ragi, maize, groundnut, sunflower in the south interior parts of the state and redgram, bajra, sunflower, maize among others in north interior parts of the state, said Srinivasa.
The cattle population in the state requires around 13.9 million tonnes of fodder, while the availability is just about 7.27 million tonnes, which is sufficient for the next 15 days.
The state government has declared 125 taluks of the 176 taluks drought-hit. The revenue department has released Rs 116 crore for emergency drinking water requirements and another Rs 169 crore for input subsidy to farmers to tackle drought.
