Karnataka: Kharge Hears Farmers’ Distress During Drought-Hit Field Visit
The impact of Super El Nino has resulted in a 75 per cent rainfall deficit, and a drought-like situation has emerged in the state: Home Minister and Kalaburagi district in-charge minister Priyank Kharge
KALABURAGI: “We have already spent Rs 50,000 on seeds and fertiliser, but the crop has withered. Now we have sown tur on another four acres. What if that too fails? Please give us compensation.” This was the appeal of farmer Vimalabai Amavaraya to Home Minister and Kalaburagi district in-charge minister Priyank Kharge when he visited her drought-hit field at Avarad B village in Kalaburagi taluk on Monday.
Vimalabai told the minister that she had spent about Rs 50,000 on DAP fertiliser and seeds before sowing black gram. With the monsoon failing, the crop was damaged. Hoping to salvage the season, she has now sown tur on another four acres, but is unsure whether there will be enough rain for the crop to survive. Weak monsoon as gripped fear among the farmers.
Her account brought the impact of the dry spell into sharp focus during Kharge’s inspection of crop damage in the village. He also visited the field of Shakuntala Suryakant.
Wearing a green shawl, Kharge visited the fields and inspected the damaged crops in detail. He spoke to the farmers, discussed with the officials and collected all the details.
Speaking to reporters, the Home Minister said that the impact of Super El Nino has resulted in a 75 per cent rainfall deficit, and a drought-like situation has emerged in the state.
“This will be discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday,” he said.
Kharge said the State government had already apprised the Centre of the situation, with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister writing to the Union government seeking assistance.
“The existing norms under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) were making it difficult to provide adequate compensation to farmers. The NDRF norms need to be simplified. The State has already made this demand before the Centre, and we expect the Union government to support it,” he said.
He said that Kalaburagi received a record Rs 650 crore in compensation last year, he said, adding that the district was the second-highest recipient of compensation in the country.
This year, around 4.5 lakh farmers in the district have so far enrolled under the crop insurance scheme, Kharge said.
He also acknowledged complaints that adequate compensation had not reached nearly 20 per cent of gram panchayat areas during the previous year. He said he had issued strict instructions to Revenue and Agriculture Department officials to ensure that such lapses were not repeated.
“I have given strict instructions to the Revenue and Agriculture officials to ensure that this does not happen again this year,” he said.
Speaking about drinking-water arrangements, Kharge said Rs 1 crore had been allocated to every Assembly constituency in the district and therefore there was no shortage of funds for meeting the drinking-water requirement. The government had also released Rs 5 crore for drinking-water works in rural areas, he said, adding that works were already under way.