Eshwara Khandre, Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment and Bidar district In-charge, said that the State government had declared all the eight taluks of the district as drought-hit after taking into account recent rainfall data.
“Earlier, the government had declared only three taluks drought-hit. However, the situation in the remaining five taluks was no different as per the subsequent rainfall data. So, the government declared all the eight taluks drought-hit and stepped in taking drought relief measures,” Mr. Khandre said at the quarterly review meeting of the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) at Bidar Zilla Panchayat conference hall in Bidar on Wednesday.
“We need to disburse the drought compensation to the farmers. Task Forces would be constituted at the taluk level under the chairpersonship of the MLAs concerned to assess the loss caused by the drought in their respective areas. Based on the reports of the Task Forces, the government would release the compensation funds accordingly. All the government servants are expected to work honestly in preparing the drought report and ensure that the relief released by the government would reach to the intended beneficiary,” Mr. Khandre said.
Taking note of the complaints that the Crop Insurance Companies were not paying the amounts insured in the genuine cases of crop losses in natural disasters, Mr. Khandre directed the district administration to take extra care and adequate measures to ensure that the farmers whose crops were lost in natural disasters would get the insurance assured.
The Minister also presented in the meeting the complaints on water released from the Karanja Reservoir being wasted and causing problems to the farmers downstream at Joladapka and Dongargaon villages in the district and asked the Karanja Reservoir officials to take appropriate measures to address the issue and ensure the flow of water up to 131 km from the dam through the canal for irrigation within a week.
He also directed the officials concerned to look into the complaints of not providing food as per the menus in the hostels run by the Social Welfare and Backward Classes Welfare Departments in the district.
When the topic of works undertaken with the funds of the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) was taken up for discussion, Mr. Khandre categorically directed the officials to clear the bills only after getting satisfied with the quality of the work.
Mr. Khandre also drew the attention of the meeting to the complaints of irregular and inadequate supply of power by Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM) and directed the officials to address the issues on priority basis.
