From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - bangalore

Bangalore, May 14: A 12-member Central team arrived in Bangalore on Monday and toured Tumkur and Chikballapur districts to assess the damage caused due to the drought situation in Karnataka.

With as many as 123 out of the 176 taluks in the State reeling under deficit rainfall and drought conditions, the visit of the Central team headed by P Sharma, Managing Director, Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium, toured Chikballapur district and interacted with farmers, SHG and NGO representatives, the Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat.

The 12-member central team was split into two and undertook the tour to study the drought situation in the State.

The first six member central team led by Sharma would be touring drought-hit villages of Kolar on Tuesday.

Another six-member team led by K Manohar, Director, Tobacco Board, Chennai, toured Tumkur district and would travel to villages of Chitradurga district on Tuesday.

Both the central teams would be return to Bangalore on Tuesday evening.

Officials would hold a meeting with Chief Secretary S V Ranganath and other heads of Agriculture, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Animal Husbandry and other departments at the State Secretariat on Wednesday.

An-all party delegation led by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had called on the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded for interim relief of at least Rs 1,500 crore to undertake relief measures in drought-hit taluks.

The delegation wanted the Centre to allot three lakh tonnes of rice and 57,200 tonnes of wheat as additional foodgrains for families living below the poverty line.

The deficit rainfall has caused crop loss totalling Rs 5,864 crore.