DCs will be held responsible for lapses in drought relief: CM

Instructing the officials to visit drought-hit villages and respond to the problems of people, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that deputy commissioner and zilla panchayat (ZP) chief executive officer would be held responsible for mismanagement of the drought situation, while action would also be taken against other officials, based on the report from the DC.

Chairing a district-level drought review meeting here on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah asked the officials to work on a war footing to ensure proper drinking water supply, availability of fodder, increased number of man days under MGNREG scheme and proper healthcare in affected areas.

New borewells should be dug and defunct borewells should be recharged, wherever required. If needed, take over private borewells by paying them the rent. More fodder banks and goshala should be opened in the affected area. Transportation of fodder from Karnataka to other states should be stopped, but there should be no restriction on inter-district fodder movement in the state, he said.

District in-charge secretaries should clear bottlenecks and technical problems in executing such works, and there is no shortage of funds, Siddaramaiah noted. Earlier, the chief minister visited select villages, including Bandiwad, Gudenakatti and Yerinarayanapur among others in Hubballi and Kundgol taluks to review the drought situation and relief works. The government has embarked upon a plan to rejuvenate dried tanks and thereby mitigate drinking water crisis.

Speaking to mediapersons in Dharwad on Tuesday, the chief minister said that the tank desilting works would be taken up under the MGNREG scheme, and later a programme to refill the tank would be launched. This would help the labourers get work, beside rejuvenate the dried tanks. On crop loss, Siddaramaiah said, “The state has suffered a crop loss of Rs 7,000 crore in Rabi season. The government had sought R 1,416 crore from the Centre to compensate the farmers for crop loss. The Union Home Ministry is learnt to have, agreed in principle, to release Rs 723 crore on Monday evening.”

He continued saying that the farmers in the state had incurred a loss of over Rs 16,000 crore in Kharif season. The Centre, however, after much delay has sanctioned Rs 1,450 crore, he said.