Bengaluru, 2 July

Painting a grim picture of the monsoon this year, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar asked the agrarian community to rethink before sowing.

"Drought problem appears to be growing big. There is more than 20 per cent deficiency in the inflow of water in the dams this year compared to last year. I have told Ministers to visit two to three districts. I will also visit four divisions and review the situation," Shivakumar told press after a Cabinet meeting.

He said farmers should not depend on the nearly dry reservoirs this year until they are filled up completely.

"We see a big problem there. Farmers should not build pressure on us. Don’t rely on the rainfall and do sowing. We cannot release water as there is no adequate rainfall," Shivakumar said.

He noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned that there will likely be an acute shortage of water.

He said that he has directed the district-in-charge ministers to ensure drinking water and adequate stock of fodder for cattle. Borewells will be drilled wherever there is an emergency.

Power crisis

There will likely be a power crisis in the absence of water in dams for hydel power, Shivakumar added. “I have already instructed our departments to stock coal and other essential materials immediately so that there is no emergency later.”

No privatisation

Speaking on the issue of parallel and private power distribution, Shivakumar said: "I have told all ESCOMs that they must submit their objections to the government regarding the proposal to hand over power distribution to private players.  Earlier, the BJP government had allowed private players to obtain licenses. Based on that, the Tata group has applied. Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) will decide on this matter. The private party has not applied to the government — they have applied to KERC… I have instructed them to tell KERC that we do not consent to this.”