Udupi district has enough fodder for over 2.2 lakh head of cattle for the next 14 weeks, according to Udupi Deputy Commissioner K. Vidyakumari.
Chairing a meeting of District Disaster Management Authority in Udupi on Tuesday, she said that in case any dairy farmer faced a dearth of fodder, the district administration would supply it at government rates. Farmers facing a dearth of fodder can leave their cattle at goushalas (shelters for cattle).
She said that there is no scarcity of funds to tackle the drought situation. The district administration has ₹16.94 crore in the Personal Deposit (PD) account in which the government keeps money meant for public use. There is also ₹2.21 crore in the PD accounts of tahsildars. In addition, ₹4.5 crore is available to mitigate the drinking water scarcity in the drought-hit taluks of Brahmavara, Karkala and Hebri, she said.
Ms. Vidyakumari said that whenever the common people request for supply of drinking water, officials should immediately respond and resolve the issue. In rural areas, people and cattle should not suffer from drinking water scarcity and any phone call made by the public complaining of water scarcity problems should be attended to and resolved within 24 hours. Officials should be always ready to address the water scarcity problem until it rains, she said.
