Srirangapatna: Members of the Central Drought Study Committee (CDSC), led by Dr. Naveen Kumar Jain, visited the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam on Thursday to assess the actual water storage, inflow and usage.
The CDSC team is touring Karnataka from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 to assess the drought situation and determine its severity.
The team visited the Kabini Dam and surrounding areas on Wednesday. On Thursday, it visited areas dependent on Cauvery water for irrigation around KRS.
CADA Mandya Division Engineer K. Raghuram briefed Dr. Naveen Kumar Jain on the current storage in KRS, inflow and water usage, besides corresponding data from previous years.
Later, Mandya Agriculture Department Joint Director Jayaswamy accompanied the team to agricultural lands around Belagola and Palahalli, where the members inspected paddy crops.
The team then visited Yammanahalli and Yaraganahalli villages in Maddur taluk and saw dry agricultural lands affected by water shortage.
Farmers told the team that sowing of paddy was delayed this year due to the shortage of water and that they received less water later. They said they depended on agriculture and animal husbandry and used paddy and ragi crop residues as cattle fodder when crop yields were low due to inadequate water.
Jayaswamy told the team that the Agriculture Department was giving priority to drinking water and filling ponds and lakes. Due to the shortage, less water had also been released to irrigation canals, he said, and advised farmers to opt for crops that require less water.
Dr. Naveen Kumar Jain advised farmers to adopt direct sowing of paddy, which requires less water. The water saved through the method could then be made available to other farmers for raising crops, he said.