Central team seeks more statistics on drought

It will be a while before Karnataka can expect any grant from the Centre for drought relief.

The Central drought assessment team headed by Parvesh Sharma on Wednesday directed the State government to furnish detailed statistics within a week’s time.

The officials, at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, expressed dissatisfaction over the information provided by the Gowda-led all-party delegation in its memorandum.

The government had presented only “roughly worked out information” pertaining to the losses, the team said, directing the government to substantiate its claims.

The officials said the government is yet to provide information on cumulative crop losses during the Rabi season, apart from statistics pertaining to animal husbandry, agriculture, horticulture and power.

The team, which has not visited any of the severely affected drought-hit taluks of North Karnataka, asked the government to prepare a detailed project report on rejuvenating traditional water bodies in Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Kolar districts.

The members of the team have also suggested that the government utilise funds available with the Planning Commission, and make alternative arrangements for permanent drinking water supply for the districts.

The team also suggested that Karnataka take a leaf out of Maharashtra which has shifted to harnessing energy from renewable sources, like solar energy. It has asked the State to improve the efficiency of transformers, which have been burning out because of continued load shedding.

‘Govt complimented’

The chief minister later told the mediapersons that the team had lauded the government’s efforts in tackling drought.

“Parvesh Sharma was quite happy with the drought mitigation measures adopted by the government. It’s just not him, even the previous team had expressed the same view,” he said.

Gowda said the team had complimented the government for effectively implementing the public distribution system; for providing drinking water through tankers; for checking migration; successfully running goshalas; and for creating employment.

But for skilled labourers migrating to Bangalore, there are no other instances of migration, he added.

Gowda, however, said the team asked the government to improve the power feeder services and focus on implementing solar energy projects to overcome power crisis.

Officials said the team also recommended the government to extend the special programme of providing milk and eggs to undernourished children across the State. The scheme is being implemented only in nine districts.

Dr Tara, Regional Director, National Institute of Public Policy and Child Development, visited all the anaganwadis and suggested that the government should focus more on the malnutrition problem, he added.

Gowda said that the team would submit its report to the Centre in a week’s time.