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Kodagu records 37% rainfall deficit, delays paddy transplantation
Kodagu's monsoon rainfall this year is running 37% below the same period last year, Deputy Commissioner S.J. Somashekar told a review meeting in Madikeri on 5 August, with the district recording 599…
Kodagu's monsoon rainfall this year is running 37% below the same period last year, Deputy Commissioner S.J. Somashekar told a review meeting in Madikeri on 5 August, with the district recording 599 mm against a normal 859 mm in July even as Shanthalli, Kushalnagar and Hudikeri saw above-normal rain, The Hindu reported. Karnataka minister P.M. Narendraswamy, sent to the district by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to assess the shortfall, inspected the Harangi reservoir, standing crops and a goshala, and said he would submit a full report to the state government while voicing hope that August rainfall would let paddy transplantation catch up. Of a 19,000-hectare paddy and maize target, only 2,800 hectares have been sown, with about 8% of transplantation complete against 38% at the same point last monsoon. District and taluk control rooms and 20 nodal officers have been set up in response, and the minister said the government would also be asked to fund repairs to rain-damaged roads.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The deficit figures and the transplantation shortfall come directly from district officials, giving the account a solid evidentiary base beyond the minister's own optimism, which is an expectation rather than a guarantee of relief. Kodagu's status as the main catchment for the KRS reservoir means a continued shortfall carries consequences for irrigation and drinking supply well beyond the district, reaching Mysuru, Mandya and Bengaluru. Road damage from the uneven rainfall pattern, raised separately by the local MLA, is a second, more immediate test of the same control-room machinery. The concrete figure to check against the minister's report is whether transplantation reaches even last year's 38% mark by the end of August, when the sowing window closes.
Source: www.thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
