A 10-member central inter-ministerial team will visit Karnataka from October 3 to 6 to assess the state’s drought conditions and verify crop damage reported across more than 14.43 lakh hectares, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has said.
The committee will be led by Agriculture Department Joint Secretary Ajit Kumar Sahu and will be divided into three sub-teams for field inspections across 12 districts. The teams will visit farmers’ fields and reservoirs to assess the extent of crop losses and examine the water situation.
The first team, led by Sahu, will cover Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Davanagere and Vijayanagara districts. The second team, led by Dr Sudham Bagh, will visit Hassan, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Mandya. Its schedule includes an inspection of water levels at the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir. The third team, led by Dr Man Singh, will cover Yadgir, Raichur, Bagalkot and Koppal.
The central officials are scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru on the morning of October 3. They will first hold a meeting with the state’s Chief Secretary and senior officials of the Revenue Department, including its disaster management wing, before travelling to the districts assigned to them.
The field visits will allow the committee to compare reported crop damage with conditions on the ground, including the status of agricultural land and available water in reservoirs. The assessment covers districts spread across southern, central and northern Karnataka, where the impact of deficient rainfall and water stress can vary significantly between regions.
The visit is part of the process for preparing a final assessment for the Union government. After completing the drought study, the central teams will submit their report to the Centre. The supplied report does not specify the amount of assistance that may be considered or the timeline for any decision following the assessment.
For the state administration, the inspection will place official field verification at the centre of the drought-response process. The findings are expected to establish the central government’s assessment of crop losses and drought conditions across the districts covered by the three teams. Further action will depend on the committee’s final report and the decisions taken by the Union government thereafter.
