Parched lands and withered crops greeted the three-member Central drought study team in Chamarajanagar district on Thursday.
The team consisting of S.M. Kolhatkar, Director, Oilseeds, Hyderabad, Sathish Kumar Kamboj, Senior Joint Commissioner, Water Resources, and Neeta Tahiliani, Under Secretary, Rural Development, visited Kollegal, Yelandur and Chamarajanagar taluks and witnessed crops withered in large track of lands. The team also visited many villages which were hit by drinking water scarcity.
The team spoke to few farmers and gathered information about the crop damaged owing to deficient rainfall. The Chamarajanagar district administration furnished details about crop loss and explained the drinking water shortage situation.
Deputy Commissioner B. Ramu explained about depletion of groundwater and said crops such as paddy, ragi, sugarcane, maize, and oilseeds had been damaged completely He said crops worth over Rs. 34 crore had been damaged and explained the adverse impact of dried up tanks on animals.
He said there were incidents of wild animals straying into villages in search of water and damaging crops and injuring humans.
The team will tour four taluks of Mysuru district on Friday. All taluks of Mysuru were declared drought hit and crops on over 1 lakh hectares were damaged.
