Central team assesses drought situation in Mysuru

A Central drought study team on Monday assessed the drought situation in Mysuru district and sought details from officials on rainfall deficit, water availability, and crop losses.

The team comprising Sudham Beg, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying; Ashish Pandey, Deputy Adviser, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation; Pradeep Kumar, Under Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution; and Karan Chowdhary, Deputy Director, Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, held discussions with officials at the Zilla Panchayat meeting hall.

Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikanth Reddy said the district was facing a severe drought owing to deficient rainfall. Mysuru had recorded a 59% rainfall deficit, one of the highest in the State, he said.

The district depended mainly on three reservoirs — Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), Kabini, and Harangi. The live storage in KRS stood at 17.86 tmc ft this year, against 21.83 tmc ft during the corresponding period last year, a decline of nearly 4 tmc ft. In Kabini, the live storage was only 1.31 tmc ft compared with 8.71 tmc ft last year, a shortfall of around 7 tmc ft.

The available reservoir water was being utilised only for drinking water supply and filling tanks, Mr. Reddy said. If the rainfall deficit continued, the district could face a serious drinking water shortage, he warned.

Joint Director of Agriculture K.H. Ravi said around 1.43 lakh hectares of crops had been damaged due to the drought. As per State Disaster Response Force norms, the estimated crop loss was around ₹122.34 crore, he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Aishwarya R. and other officials were present at the meeting.