Amid rain hope, Karnataka govt to wait before declaring drought

The state government will not hasten to announce drought in Karnataka as several parts of the state have received rains over the last 10 days, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told the Assembly on Thursday.

The minister was responding to concerns about drought raised by MLAs during Zero Hour.

"The monsoon is gathering pace. The rainfall deficit faced in June is being covered. The government will wait until July 15 before taking a call," Gowda said.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on disaster management, headed by him, Gowda said. "The MET department has predicted good rains even in the Kalyana Karnataka region," he said. While not all hoblis have received rainfall, the rainfall in general has been encouraging, according to the minister.

As per data available with the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), as many as eleven districts saw rainfall deficit (20-59 per cent less than normal), while four districts saw large deficits (over 60 per cent) between June 25 and July 1.

Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Shivamogga, Yadgir, Koppal, Ballari, Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru saw rainfall deficit. Chikmagalur, Kodagu, Hassan and Chamarajanagar saw large deficits.

Thirteen districts received normal rainfall. One district (Bengaluru Rural) saw excess rainfall, while two districts (Tumakuru and Chikballapur) saw large excess rainfall.

Meanwhile, the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department has released Rs 1 crore to each district to ensure drinking water.

Gowda said 193 villages are dependent on tanker water at present and 400 villagers are dependent on private borewells. The government has also issued directions to all officials to make arrangements for drinking water within 24 hours of water scarcity alert, Gowda added.

The government's decision to not declare drought immediately saw stiff opposition from a section of MLAs who contended that not all parts of the state had received rains. "Don't go by the MET department's predictions," former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said, warning the government against waiting until the crisis hits.

"The interior regions of North Karnataka have not received any rainfall. People are struggling for drinking water," Bommai pointed out. He also called for a permanent Task Force for all taluks for disaster management, instead of constituting a Task Force after being hit by crisis.

Former minister Shivaram Hebbar added that habitations on the ghats of Uttara Kannada district had not seen any rain at all.