86 taluks of state drought-hit: R.V. Deshpande
‘Crops worth Rs 8K crore damaged due to scanty rainfall’
Bengaluru, September 11: Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande said that the state government has declared 86 taluks in 16 districts which received scanty rainfall in this season as per the guidelines of 2016.
After holding a Cabinet Sub-Committee meeting to review the drought relief works and take a stock of the present situation at Vidhana Soudha here on Tuesday, the Minister said that 89 taluks have received scanty rainfall. As per the central government’s guidelines, the area should receive less than 60 per cent rain against the average rainfall, dry weather for more than three weeks, less than 75 per cent sowing of overall target, satellite-based crops analysis, less than 50 per cent humidity and water resources index of reservoirs and ground water level should be taken into consideration while declaring any taluk as drought hit. The monsoon which entered the state by May 30 has covered the entire state by June 8. But only Malnad and Coastal districts have received heavy rains and remaining places like north and south interior districts of the state were hit by the drought situation, he said.
From June 1 to September 6, the state has received 721 mm rainfall and this was 2 per cent more than the average rainfall. But in this period, 88 districts have received scanty rainfall and Sindhanur taluk in Raichur has suffered with complete drought situation, he said.
There was dry spell for more than three weeks in 104 taluks, lack of humidity in 115 taluks, less than 75 per cent sowing in 44 taluks, crop loss in 119 taluks and groundwater was depleted in 35 taluks, he said.
Crops worth Rs 8k cr damaged
Due to lack of sufficient rainfall, agriculture and horticulture crops grown in 15 lakh hectares of land were damaged incurring a loss of Rs 8,000 crore. Because of the drought situation, drinking water and fodder scarcity was cropped up and this has affected the rural employment opportunities, he said.
Due to heavy rainfall in Malnad and Coastal region, Rs 3,705 crore worth properties and crops were damaged. A delegation led by Chief Minister H.D Kumaraswamy which met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday appealed him to release Rs 1199.89 crore to take up relief measures, he said.
Drought-hit taluks
Bengaluru Rural- Hosakote, Ramanagar- Channapattana and Kanakapura, Kolar- Bangarapete, Kolara, Maluru, Mulabagilu and Srinivaspura, Chikkaballapura- Bagepalli, Chikkaballapura, Chintamani, Gauribidanur, Gudibande and Shidlaghatta, Tumakur- Chikkanayakanahalli, Gubbi, Koratagere, Kunigal, Madhugiri, Pavagada, Sira, Tipatur and Tumkur, Chitradurga- Challakere, Chitradurga, Hiriyur and Molakalmuru, Davangere- Harapanahalli and Harihara, Chamarajanagar- Kollegala and Yelandur, Mandya- Malavalli, Maddur, Mandya, Nagamangala and Srirangapatna, Bellary- Bellary, Hadagali, Hosapete, Hagaribommanahalli, Kudligi, Sandur and Siruguppa, Koppal- Gangavathi, Koppala, Kushtagi and Yelburga, Raichur- Devadurga, Lingasugur, Manvi, Raichur and Sindhanur, Kalaburgi- Afzalpura, Chincholi, Chittapura, Kalaburagi, Jevargi and Sedam, Yadagiri- Shahapura, Shorapura and Yadagiri, Bidar- Bidar and Humnabad, Belagavi- Ramdurga and Savadatti, Bagalkote- Badami, Bagalkote, Hunagunda, and Jamakhandi, Vijayapura- Basavanabagewadi, Bijapura, Indi, Muddebihal and Sindhagi, Gadag- Gadag, Mundaragi, Raragunda, Rona and Shirahatti, Haveri- Ranebennur, Dharwad- Hubballi and Navalagunda, Hassan- Arsikere, Belur, Channarayapatna and Chikmagalur- Kadur taluks were declared as drought affected, Deshpande said.
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After poll debacle, defeated MVA candidates to seek verification of EVM-VVPAT units
Mumbai(PTI): The Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates who faced defeat in the recent Maharashtra assembly polls have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, a leader of the opposition alliance said.
Many losing candidates of the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) pointed fingers at the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during their interaction with party head Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday.
Thackeray took stock of the lacklustre performance of his party at a meeting held at his residence in Mumbai.
The poll verdict last week saw the Mahayuti coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP, retaining power with a massive mandate, pushing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to margins.
The Mahayuti won 230 seats and MVA only 46 in the 288-member House.
The Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) emerged as the largest party in the opposition camp by winning 20 seats, followed by Congress which bagged 16 constituencies, while the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) sits at the bottom with a tally of 10 seats.
Talking to PTI on Tuesday, Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan, who lost the election from Chandivali assembly constituency in Mumbai, said he held a discussion with Thackeray, who also said he has got complaints from his party workers that EVMs could have been tampered.
"We are getting complaints from different parts of the state expressing doubts over the results. In a democracy, complaints need to be verified and many of us, including myself, (who faced defeat) are in the process of applying for the verification," Khan said.
As per the Supreme Court's judgement on April 26 this year, the burnt memory/microcontroller in 5 per cent of the EVMs - the control unit, ballot unit and the VVPAT - per assembly constituency shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from manufacturers of the EVMs, after the announcement of results, for any tampering or modification, he said.
A written request for this has to be made by candidates who are in the second or third position behind the highest polled candidate.
Such a request has to be made within seven days of declaration of the result, Khan said.
A candidate making the request will have to pay the expenses of Rs 41,000 which will be refunded in case the machine is found to be tampered with, he said.
The microcontroller is a one-time programmable chip embedded into the three units of EVM-Ballot Unit, Control Unit and the VVPAT - at the time of manufacturing, as per the SC.
A Sena (UBT) MLA from Mumbai has claimed there were discrepancies between the votes polled and the votes counted in the EVMs.
"Almost all candidates raised doubts over the EVMs," the legislator said.
