Agricultural and horticultural corps worth Rs. 711.20 crore were damaged owing to untimely rains accompanied by hailstorm in April and May in 11 districts of Karnataka.

The State Government presented a memorandum on the crop loss to a Central team headed by R.B. Sinha, Joint Secretary, Union Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, which winded up the three-day tour to the State on Wednesday.

Karnataka was expecting relief of Rs. 151.28 crore from the Centre under the State Disaster Response Fund, for providing compensation to farmers who had lost crops.

“Short spell of hailstorm and strong winds has caused intensive damages to both agriculture and horticulture crops spread over 1.05 lakh hectares in 11 districts,” the memorandum said.

Team members which toured Kalaburagi, Raichur, Ballari, Bidar, Chikballapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural districts to assess the crop damage, held a two-hour long meeting with Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra, Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Horticulture Minister Shyamanur Shivashankarappa and obtained the more details. Top officials of various departments too were present.

Later, speaking to presspersons Mr. Jayachandra and Mr. Gowda said that the team would expected to submit a detailed report to the Union Agriculture Ministry soon. “The team members are 100 per cent convinced. We requested early release of the relief fund,” Mr. Jayachandra said.

Ministers said the State had already released Rs. 219 crore to Deputy Commissioners for payment of the compensation to farmers who had lost/damaged paddy crop. The compensation amount had been fixed at Rs. 25,000 per hectare.

There was delay in the Central Team’s visit following enforcement of model code of conduct due to elections to Gram Panchyats.

Source - http://www.thehindu.com/