Drought-hit taluks rise to 124, with 23 more additions

Karnataka on Thursday declared 23 more taluks as drought-hit taluks, taking the total of drought-affected taluks in the State to 124.

Of the 23 taluks declared drought hit, 21 have been classified under “severely drought-affected” and two “moderately affected” drought taluks after ground truthing exercise was conducted in the second round.

After the latest announcement, the State has a total of 110 taluks under the severe drought-hit category and 14 as moderately drought-affected. A total of 101 taluks were declared as drought hit on August 27 in the first round.

The severely drought-hit taluks as per the second round are Tiptur, Karatagi, Manvi, Sindhanur, Sirawara, Afzalpur, Aland, Chittapur, Kalaburgi, Yadrami, Shahbad, Bhalki, Basavanabagewadi, Bableshwar, Tikota, Rattehalli, Hubballi, Navalgund, Hubballi City, Annigeri and Kadur.

Further, considering rainfall between June 1 and September 16, soil moisture and status of crops among others, 53 taluks across 17 districts have been selected for the third round of ground truthing. A team of officials will be visiting the villages in these taluks on September 19 and 20 to review crop loss and the teams have been asked to submit report by September 21.

Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister G. Parameshwara said on social media platform ‘X’: “Based on the necessity, more taluks would be included for ground truthing exercise in the fourth round.”