Standing crops on about 42 lakh hectares, including two lakh hectares of horticulture crops, have been damaged owing to deficient rainfall during the current monsoon in Karnataka, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has said.
A memorandum seeking compensation to farmers who had lost crops owing to shortage of rainfall will be submitted to the Centre, Mr. Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday. The memorandum would be submitted to the Centre this week after approval by the State Cabinet.
As per the NDRF norms, the State would be eligible to get compensation to the tune of ₹5,000 crore to ₹6,000 crore. After the submission of the petition, the Central government would depute its team to the State to assess the drought situation, he said.
A total of 195 taluks out of the 236 in Karnataka would be declared as drought-hit. As per the Central government’s guidelines, Karnataka has 161 taluks suffering from severe drought. Another 34 taluks have moderate drought.
