GULBARGA: Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar has convened a meeting of Revenue Department officials in Bangalore on Saturday to review the drought situation, taking into account the average to good rainfall in most parts of the State in September.

Mr. Shettar told presspersons here on Thursday that the situation had shown a slight improvement, with farmers going in for rabi sowing. The Government has released Rs. 1 crore to each of the 122 taluks declared drought hit for relief works.

Asked whether the Government now planned to remove some of the taluks from the list of drought-hit ones in view of the rainfall in September, Mr. Shettar said the issue would be discussed in the meeting. A decision would be taken in consultation with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Mr. Shettar acknowledged that there were several complaints about the identification of families living below the poverty line (BPL) for issuing ration cards to them. The Government had decided to distribute ration cards to all those who were covered under the scheme prior to the survey conducted by the Government. Those who did not receive the cards could approach the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned, and the Government would conduct a re-survey to determine if they were eligible for the BPL ration cards.

Conditions relaxed

The Minister said the Government has also relaxed the eligibility conditions for the ration cards and was also thinking of increasing the annual income limit of Rs. 12,000.

Mr. Shettar said the Government proposed to restore the powers of the erstwhile Divisional Commissioners to the newly created post of Regional Commissioner in all the divisional headquarters. A Bill in this regard would be introduced in the next session of the legislature, he added.

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