Central team visits Bagalkot district

A team of officers from the Union government visited some villages in Bagalkot district to assess the drought situation on Monday. They inspected crops damaged by the lack of rainfall and spoke with farmers and officers.

Led by Man Singh, the team visited farmers’ fields in various villages across Guledagudda, Bagalkote, Hunagunda, and Ilkal taluks. They examined crop damage and gathered information from farmers regarding sowing costs, rainfall levels, the extent of crop damage, irrigation facilities, and crop insurance. Under Secretaries Partha Pal and Rakesh Kumar, C.B. Balareddy, Additional Director from the Agriculture Department headquarters, and Girish R., Secretary of the Horticulture Department, were the members present.

Meanwhile, a farmer fell at the feet of a Zilla Panchayat officer seeking crop loss compensation in Bhagawati village in Bagalkot district on Monday. He had mistaken him for a member of the Central team assessing the drought.

Shankarappa Goudar, a farmer who has suffered losses after cultivating onions, pleaded with ZP CEO Gajanan Bale for immediate compensation. The farmer later told reporters that he had wrongly thought that the officer was a member of the Central team.

Officers told the Central team that the district had suffered losses of up to ₹420.6 crore due to the loss of agricultural and horticultural crops.

“Due to a lack of rainfall, 250,280 hectares of agricultural land in the district have been affected, resulting in an estimated loss of ₹342.16 crore. Horticultural crops suffered damage across 56,386 hectares, causing a loss of ₹78.50 crore. The total estimated loss across the agriculture and horticulture sectors stands at ₹420.66 crore,” they said.

Additionally, Deputy Commissioner Sangappa informed the Central drought study team that ₹9.36 crore is required for drinking water arrangements, and a total of ₹8.94 crore is needed to establish fodder banks and cattle shelters.

The team visited a two-acre plot of maize belonging to farmer Husenabi Dalayat near Haladuru village in Guledagudda taluk. They collected details from the farmers about the cost of sowing and the extent of the damage. The farmers poured out their grievances to the team.

In Shirur village, the team inspected a sugarcane crop grown on a 2-acre, 10-gunta plot belonging to Rudrappa Ganiger and farmer Basayya’s maize crop.

Umesh Meti, MLA, informed the Central team that various crops in the region had been completely destroyed due to a lack of rainfall. He said water levels in bore wells within irrigated lands had dropped significantly, creating a situation where the available water could be used solely for drinking purposes.

The team then visited the farm of Nagappa Siddappa Guled in Bhagavati village and inspected the damaged onion crop. Farmers told the team members that despite having crop insurance, they had not received any compensation.

The team inspected the damaged sunflower crop in a field at Hallur village and obtained details regarding the loss from farmer Madavaraja Joshi. Additionally, they inspected the damaged chilli crop in Bevoor village. They saw red chilli crops in Nandanur village in Hungund taluk, grown on Yallavva Jambagi’s farm.

Vijayanand Kashappanavar, Minister for Small Scale Industries and district in-charge; Mr. Sangappa; Joint Director of Agriculture T.S. Rudreshappa; Joint Director of Horticulture Ravindra Hakati; Assistant Commissioner Captain Mahesh Malagitti; Director of Research (UHS) Vasanth Ganiger; KVK Scientist Siddappa Angadi; and tahsildars Vasudeva Swami and Praveenkumar Hiremath were present.