Bengaluru, 17 September

The Karnataka government on Thursday declared 23 more taluks drought-affected, taking the total number of drought-hit taluks notified so far to 124, amid dry conditions in several parts of the state.

The Revenue Department (Disaster Management) issued an order on Thursday declaring the additional taluks drought-affected based on ground-truthing and a comprehensive assessment by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre.

In the first phase, on August 27, the government had declared 101 taluks drought-hit for Kharif 2026.

The KSNDMC subsequently conducted a scientific assessment of the remaining 139 taluks following the continued dry spell in several parts of the state.

On the directions of the Cabinet sub-committee on natural disasters, headed by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, ground-truthing was conducted through a mobile application in 214 villages across 24 taluks.

Based on the ground-truthing exercise and the comprehensive report submitted by the KSNDMC, 23 additional taluks have now been declared drought-affected, a press release said.

Of these, 21 have been classified as severely drought-affected and two as moderately drought-affected.

The declaration took effect immediately and will remain in force for six months.

The 21 severely drought-affected taluks are Tiptur in Tumakuru district; Karatagi in Koppal; Manvi, Sindhanur and Sirwar in Raichur; Afzalpur, Aland, Chittapur, Kalaburagi, Yadrami and Shahabad in Kalaburagi; Bhalki in Bidar; Basavana Bagewadi, Babaleshwar and Tikota in Vijayapura; Rattihalli in Haveri; Hubballi, Navalgund, Hubballi City and Annigeri in Dharwad; and Kadur in Chikkamagaluru.

The two moderately drought-affected taluks are Ponnampet and Virajpet in Kodagu district.

The government has authorised the respective deputy commissioners, who head the district disaster management authorities, to undertake necessary relief and response measures in accordance with State Disaster Response Fund guidelines.

The agriculture commissioner, director of Horticulture and deputy commissioners concerned have been directed to jointly conduct crop-loss surveys and submit relief assessment reports to the government at the earliest.

The government said the KSNDMC would review the drought situation every week, as forecasts indicate below-normal rainfall in September as well.

Additional taluks would be notified as drought-affected in phases based on their eligibility, it said.