Chitradurga, 25 July

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and his Deputy G Parameshwara on Saturday said the State government had shifted its Bengaluru regional division-level development review meeting to Chitradurga to review the drought situation and preparedness in central Karnataka.

Parameshwara warned that the State was facing a possible fodder crisis within the next “30 weeks or 40 weeks”, noting that Karnataka has lakhs of livestock. 

He directed Animal Husbandry Department officials to only provide fodder seed kits to farmers in areas where water is available. He said that Karnataka used to be able to bring fodder from neighbouring states when it was facing a drought, but now they “are facing drought”. 

Reiterating that the situation was “serious”, Parameshwara noted that the temperature over the surface of the Pacific Ocean is rising by about 2-3 degrees Celsius amid the El Nino conditions. 

“We are seeing drought conditions in about 50 per cent of the world's area,” he said, noting that Karnataka itself was facing a 42 per cent rain deficit.  

Regarding the drought declaration, Parameshwara said that the State could not submit a proposal to the Centre until 15 August, but this might be delayed if rain comes then.

Meanwhile, Shivakumar asserted that farmers and the public would not be allowed to face any shortage of water.

"We do not want to conduct all our review meetings in Bengaluru... Except for Almatti, the situation elsewhere is still not favourable. The drought situation is worsening, and we are witnessing severe drought in this region as well," he said.