Shobha Karandlaje chairs review meeting in Udupi
Udupi, July 11, 2022: Union Minister of state for agriculture Shobha Karandlaje directed the officials to provide compensation to the farmers at the earliest.
“As the paddy crop has been damaged due to widespread rains in the district, compensation should be provided to the farmers at the earliest. Agriculture department officials should ensure seeds are provided to these farmers as per their requirement,” she said.
She was speaking after chairing a review meeting on natural calamities in the DC office today.
“The district had received 31 percent less rainfall than normal in June and 136 percent more than normal rainfall since July 1. Due to the scanty rains in June, the agriculture work could not be done as per schedule. The work has picked up during the last week of June and the first week of July. So far 13,526 hectares have been cultivated. More than 1,300 hectares of crops have been damaged due to heavy rains in the last 4-5 days,” she said.
“In addition to providing compensation under the National Disaster Relief Fund, the locally sought-after MO4 seeds should be distributed to the farmers under subsidy,” she said.
The sea erosion has caused panic among the fishermen. There is a need for a permanent solution to this. The present NDRF guidelines do not allow works related to sea erosion. She promised to speak to the central government to bring it under the NDRF ambit once the proposal is sent to the central government.
“There have been frequent complaints of non-availability of mobile signals in rural areas. The main reason for this is the lack of electricity supply to the towers. Mescom officials and the district administration should come forward to provide a suitable solution for this,” she said.
She directed the officials to complete the pending works of National Highway upgradation.
MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Deputy Commissioner Kurma Rao M, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Prasanna H, SP Vishnuvardhan, Additional Deputy Commissioner Veena, and officials of various departments were present at the meeting.
