Tumakuru. Nov 29-    State government has already written to Centre seeking additional grants for input subsidy, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said here today.  He was speaking to media persons after participating in a programme to pay tributes to Sri Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Mutt here today.

“Recent unseasonal rains have caused huge crop losses across the state. State has written to Union Secretary for Disaster Management seeking additional grants to compensate the affected farmers,” Bommai said.

“We have requested the centre to send inter ministerial central team immediately to assess the extent of crop loss as the Centre had asked the state about the additional financial assistance required for calamity relief. State government is already begun crop survey” Bommai said.

The district administration in the state has Rs 685cr to disburse the input subsidy. The relief is being paid in many districts where the crop survey details have already been uploaded into the Parihara App, the Chief Minister said.

Covid Precautions

Replying to a question about rise in Covid cases in some parts of the state, Bommai said, stringent precautions were being taken to prevent and control the spread of the pandemic. Containment zones have been created, testing has been intensified and some of the test samples have been sent for Genome Sequencing.

International passengers at airports were being screened and only those who have a negative RTPCR report were being allowed to enter the cities. Students from Kerala who are studying in various colleges of the state were being compulsorily tested, Bommai said.

Karnataka has issued its own guidelines and tightened the precautions in accordance with the instructions from the Prime Minister, he added.