Bengaluru
Home Minister Dr  G Parameshwara has written a letter to Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda requesting him to declare Tumakuru district as drought-hit. The geographical area of the district is 10,64,755 hectares and falls under the agricultural zones of Central Dry Zone (Zone-4), Eastern Dry Zone (Zone-5) and South Dry Zone (Zone-6). The district receives 1 mm of rainfall from the south-west winds (2023st June 2023 to August 179) required for the kharif season. The normal rainfall is 164 mm. Only the rain has occurred. There is a 9 per cent deficit in rainfall, he said in the letter.
In the month of June, Gubbi, Koratagere, Kunigal, Madhugiri, Pavagada, Turuvekere and Tumakuru in seven taluks of the district and Chikkanayakanahalli, Koratagere, Kunigal and Madhugiri in four taluks of the district received below normal rainfall in July. All the 7 taluks of the district are deficient in rainfall, mainly in the month of August. The district’s normal rainfall in August was 4 mm, but the actual rainfall was only 10 mm. There will be a 53 percent deficit in rainfall, he said in the letter.
The district has a sowing target of 3,14,630 hectares in the kharif season, but only 1,96,782 hectares (62.54 percent) have been sown so far due to lack of rainfall. Of these, ragi, groundnut, maize and other crops are drying up in a total area of 1,21,792 hectares (62 percent) due to lack of rainfall at present, which is likely to result in substantial yield loss, the minister said. In this context, he requested to declare 10 taluks of Tumakuru district as drought-hit.
