Central team visits Bagalkot district

Members of the Central drought assessment team visiting fields in Bagalkot district on Monday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

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.