Report on drought in the works, will be submitted to Centre: CM

The State government is preparing a report on the drought in Karnataka for submission to the Centre, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said.

“We will submit a memorandum to the Centre as there is a severe drought in Karnataka as per an assessment by Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad. Ninety-eight taluks in the State have been declared drought-hit,” he told reporters upon his arrival at the Mysuru Airport.

Prasad, who accompanied the chief minister, said that more taluks could be declared drought-hit as reports were still trickling in from districts. As per the guidelines of the Natural Calamity Monitoring Cell, we have to wait till August 30,” he said. “I have already reviewed the situation in two revenue divisions. The meeting of Mysuru revenue division will be held in four to five days.”

Explaining the procedure, the revenue minister said that once the report was submitted to the Centre, an inter-ministerial team would visit Karnataka. The State government has been “generous” in releasing the funds. Rs 749 crore has been sanctioned ever since the Congress came to power, he added.

Austere Dasara

When asked to elaborate on the government’s decision to celebrate Dasara “in a simple manner”, the chief minister said: “Dasara wil be a low-key affair and the funds will be sanctioned depending on the scale of the event.” He dismissed the suggestion that a simple Dasara would affect tourism during the festival. “The festival is not being stopped, but the event will be scaled down.”

Upon his arrival at the Mysore airport in Mandakalli, the chief minister refused his supporters’ attempt to greet him with fanfare, on the occasion of his birthday.

No sooner than the chief minister arrived at the airport his followers, including former legislators Muktharunnisa Begum, Chikkanna and former Member of Parliament Siddaraju, tried to greet their leader with bouquets. The chief minister politely refused to accept them in the wake of farmers’ suicides in the State.

When the Public Libraries department officials wanted to felicitate the chief minister during the centenary celebrations of the City Central Library, he refused to accept the felicitation.