CH NEWS YADGIR MLA Sharanagouda Kandakur raised several pressing issues concerning Yadgir district during the special session of the Legislative Assembly, drawing the government’s attention to the drought situation, crop losses, migration for employment, drinking water shortage, Bhima river water sharing, financial difficulties faced by gram panchayats, poor condition of RO plants, pollution in the Kadachur industrial area and problems in power supply to farmers. Kandakur said the lives of farmers and poor people in North Karnataka and Kalyana Karnataka were facing severe difficulties and urged the government to give special attention to the situation in district and the Gurumitkal Assembly constituency. He said, the constituency had a large number of small and marginal farmers owning just one, two or three acres of land, while farmers owning five or 10 acres were relatively few in villages. The drought had further aggravated the financial difficulties of small farmers, he said. If rainfall failed and there were no local employment opportunities, rural families were forced to migrate to cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad in search of work, he pointed out. Kandakur said, the Agriculture Department had advised farmers not to rush into sowing due to the possibility of inadequate rainfall. However, relying on agriculture and compelled by poverty, many farmers borrowed money to purchase seeds and agricultural inputs and proceeded with sowing. He said, around 93 to 95 per cent of sowing had been completed, but the subsequent failure of rains had put farmers’ investments at risk. Green gram and black gram crops had suffered due to the rainfall deficit, while tur and cotton had also been severely affected. Paddy cultivation was also facing difficulties, he said. For families dependent entirely on one or two acres of land, crop failure leaves them with virtually no alternative source of income, Kandakur said. Therefore, the government should view drought not merely as a rainfall-deficit issue but as a livelihood crisis affecting rural families, he urged. The MLA also highlighted the drinking water crisis in district. Borewells were drying up in several villages, including those in Gurumitkal, making the supply of drinking water a major challenge for local authorities.
BOX Given the severity of the drought, additional funds were required for drilling new borewells, repairing existing ones, laying pipelines and transporting drinking water, Kandakur said.