BANGALORE: The former Minister for Agriculture T.B. Jayachandra, who is also chairman of the KPCC committee on drought, has called upon the Government to draw up an action plan to tackle the serious drought situation in the State.

He told presspersons here on Tuesday that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy was yet to realise the gravity of the situation.

The Chief Minister had stated in Mysore on Monday that the people of the State were happy owing to adequate rains thus giving an indication that the drought in the State was not really serious, he said.

Mr. Jayachandra said that though 126 taluks in the State had been declared drought hit, the Government was yet to extend assistance to the affected people.

Apart from the shortage of drinking water, there was short supply of fodder for cattle and people were deprived of employment, he said.

Migration of agricultural labour was rampant in several of the taluks and with men away at work in different places, women and children were forced to fend for themselves, he said.

The former Agriculture Minister said that the State Government should immediately release funds to the Deputy Commissioners to tackle the situation.

While the Centre had released Rs. 528 crore to the State, the latter had released only Rs. 132 crore to the districts, he alleged.

As chairman of the KPCC drought committee, Mr. Jayachandra, along with five senior members, has toured the districts of Tumkur, Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban and has interacted with the Deputy Commissioners concerned.

The committee will tour Shimoga, Chitradurga and Kolar districts over the next few days.

Mr. Jayachandra was the Agriculture Minister when the State faced a drought between 2000 and 2004.

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