KRRS demands special drought package for farmers

KRRS urges Karnataka government for special drought relief package for farmers, criticizes inadequate aid from Centre.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) on Tuesday, May 14, urged the State government to announce a special package for drought-hit farmers in Karnataka as the relief announced based on the guidelines of NDRF and SDRF was unscientific and claimed that the Centre did not release the aid proportionally considering the losses incurred by farmers.

The aid that has been announced and released was meagre and a special package along with the relief as per the SDRF norms should be announced to farmers, demanded Badagalapura Nagendra, president, KRRS, Mysuru.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the government must take steps to improve groundwater by filling up lakes and ponds without waiting for the reservoirs to fill up during monsoon. Because of drought, the groundwater has been depleted. Now that the monsoon appears to be promising based on the forecasts, the lakes and water bodies need to be filled up from the inflow that the dams get, he suggested.

The sangha also urged the government to compensate for the loss of what the farmers have suffered from the recent rains and hailstorms. Even before the farmers get adequate relief from drought, they are being hit again with damage caused to their crops by rains.

The stormy winds and hail storms have damaged banana crops in the district and other horticultural crops. The loss has to be estimated and relief has to be released, he demanded.