Central team to assess drought scenario in State

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured an all-party delegation from Karnataka led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that a central team would be sent to the State to assess the drought situation soon.

The prime minister, who patiently heard the delegation, said a central team was being sent to the State, at the earliest, to assess the situation.

Explaining the drought situation, the chief minister said that due to failure of monsoon in several parts of Karnataka, crops worth Rs 11,317 crore had been lost in kharif season. He sought the Centre to sanction Rs 3,050 crore immediately to address the crisis.

The delegation also raised the problems being faced by sugarcane farmers, due to the fall in sugar prices.

 Modi said that these problems were  being faced by sugarcane farmers across the country and the Union government was a taking a number of steps to address them, said a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. 

A request was also made for a hike in the import duty of silk to 30 per cent from 15 per cent to protect the interests of the mulberry growers in the State and the prime minister said that the request would be examined.

Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar and Sadananda Gowda and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders of all political parties were present at the meeting.