Belagavi
A five-member team led by Ajit Kumar Sahu, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, reviewed the severe drought situation in the district on Friday. Earlier in the morning, Ajit Kumar Sahu’s team held discussions with the Deputy Commissioner and officials of the concerned department at a tourist spot in the city. It then visited the drought-hit areas.
He first inspected the damage to the carrot crop at Nagappa Habi’s farm near Nesargi in Bailahongal taluk, Soyabean and Raju Hongal and Basappa Kuntigeri’s fields. In Nesargi area,.295 hectares of carrots have been sown. The yield has been completely destroyed, the Deputy Commissioner said.
An area of 2.78 lakh hectares of crops have been damaged due to lack of rain in the district, said Deputy Commissioner, which was demonstrated through comprehensive information and photographs. In fact, a total of Rs 2,928 crore has been damaged, including agriculture and horticulture. But as per the NDRF guidelines, it will be Rs 332 crore. A memorandum has already been submitted to the central government in this regard. Various crops including soyabean, cotton, sunflower, carrot, maize, sugarcane, tomato, peas have been damaged, Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil said.
The team comprised of Dr K Ponnusamy, Director, Directorate of Oilseeds Development, Mahendra Chandelia, Assistant Director, Department of Economic Expenditure, Shivacharan Meena, Research Officer, NITI Aayog and YS Patil, Commissioner, Karnataka State Agriculture Department.
Zilla Panchayat CEO Harshal Bhoyar, District Superintendent of Police Dr. Bhimashankar Guled, Agriculture Department Senior Officer Dr. VJ Patil, Additional Deputy Commissioner Vijaykumar Honakeri, Assistant Commissioner Shravan Nayak, District Joint Director Shivanagouda Patil, Deputy Director Dr. HD Kolekar, Horticulture Department Deputy Director Mahantesh Muragoda and others were present.
