With a looming drought threatening to leave hundreds of villages and taluks in Karnataka deprived of water and fodder this summer, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda was virtually forced to divert his attention from the deepening political crisis and chair a three-hour-long drought review meeting on Wednesday.

At the meeting which was attended by deputy commissioners and CEOs of 30 districts, Mr Gowda said: “Around 123 taluks are drought hit, where relief work is in full swing. We expect more villages to face water shortage. I have directed all districts to evolve an action plan for the next three months. The DCs have been told to implement mini water schemes, multi-village schemes, take up drilling and flushing of borewells and purchase water from private borewells through tankers on a war footing”.

The CM claimed that the districts had enough funds to fight drought— Rs 32.6 crore under the DC fund, Rs 84 crore under Contingency Relief Fund (CRF) and Rs 9 crore given by the RDPR department. The districts were free to divert funds from CRF to set up fodder banks, open ‘Goshalas’, drill borewells and extend pipelines among other drought relief activities, he said. “To begin with, all DCs should submit an action plan before March 20, after identifying locations. Reports on the task force meetings held in each district, should reach the CM’s office before the 5th of every month,” added Mr Gowda. The Chief Minister hopes to take a delegation to the Centre to seek more funds for drought relief.