Drought: Centre assures to send team to Karnataka

The Centre on Tuesday promised Karnataka to send an expert team to assess the prevailing drought situation in parts of the state.

After meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek funds for state, Karnataka Revenue Minister R V Deshpande told reporters that the Union minister said an expert team would be sent to the state and promised to extend all help at the earliest.

Karnataka sought Rs 2,434 crore for drought relief from the Centre as a total of 100 taluks have been facing severe drought and 33% of crops in these areas have been lost, Deshpande said.

The minister said the state government had already released Rs 25 crore for drinking water supply and another Rs 25 crore would be released soon. This is in addition to Rs 5 crore release as emergency fund, he added.