Urgent drought relief: Kharge urges PM to release ₹3,705 crore

CH NEWS, BENGALURU Amid mounting agricultural distress and severe meteorological deficits across the state, All India Congress Committee (AICC) President and Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjuna Kharge has formally written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pressing for the immediate release of central disaster relief funds. Highlighting a staggering 58% cumulative rainfall deficit recorded by September, the high-level appeal underscores the catastrophic economic fallout confronting farming communities throughout Karnataka’s rural belt. According to comprehensive state agricultural loss assessments, consecutive monsoon failures and prolonged dry spells have triggered massive crop failures across dozens of districts, bringing cumulative estimated losses to Rs. 18,748.23 crore. In response, the Karnataka government has formally sought central financial assistance totaling Rs. 3,705.30 crore under the combined framework of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). In his detailed communication to the Prime Minister, Kharge emphasized that millions of agrarian households are currently trapped in deep financial precarity, struggling to repay agricultural loans or secure basic sustenance for the upcoming rabi sowing season. The senior leader noted that while central inter-ministerial drought study teams have previously toured affected taluks to conduct ground assessments, bureaucratic delays in grant disbursements are compounding the crisis on the ground. "Karnataka is facing a severe drought situation with a 58 percent rainfall deficit by September, resulting in extensive crop loss and leaving farming families in dire straits," Kharge stated in the letter. Urging the Union government to evaluate the state’s memoranda purely on merit and humanitarian urgency, the AICC chief called upon Prime Minister Modi to personally intervene and expedite the Cabinet Committee on National Security and Disaster Management's approval for immediate fund releases. The national appeal arrives concurrently with severe regional resource strains across Karnataka. As agricultural pockets grapple with parched topsoil and dried-up irrigation canals, state water administrators have simultaneously locked horns with regulatory authorities over diminishing storage levels in major river basins—such as the Cauvery system, where live storage across primary reservoirs hovers near 49 TMC. With dozens of rural taluks officially declared severely drought-hit, state leaders across party lines have intensified pressure on New Delhi to treat agricultural relief as an emergency priority, delinking political considerations from statutory calamity allocations. As families await central intervention, farming associations have warned that without swift financial succor and debt relief, rural distress across Karnataka's dryland farming districts risks reaching an irreversible tipping point.