Karnataka’s Cabinet sub-committee on December 26 declared 56 more talukas to be drought-hit, taking the affected area to 88.6 percent of the state, according to reports.

The development comes after a deficit of -49 percent rainfall in the northeast monsoon.

A total of 156 talukas out of the state’s 176 talukas are now declared to be drought-affected. As many as 95 of these are “severely hit” while 61 are “moderately affected”.

Around 100 talukas had been declared drought-hit earlier after deficit in the southwest monsoon affected kharif cultivation, reports suggest.

“The State has suffered an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore owing to drought in the kharif season. A joint survey will now be undertaken to estimate losses in the rabi season. The net result of floods and the failure of the southwest and northeast monsoons will have a severe impact on the Gross State Domestic Product,” Revenue Minister RV Deshpande said.

“Of the 31.80 lakh hectares that come under rabi cultivation, sowing has taken place on only 26.03 lakh hectares. In the corresponding period last year, the total area under cultivation in the rabi season was 29.09 lakh hectares,” Deshpande added while explaining the extent of impact on agricultural activities.

The state has also begun deploying relief measures such as increasing the fund allocated to drought-hit talukas from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

The state’s revenue said that the Rs 2,434-crore compensation meant for the losses during kharif were yet to be released by the Centre. The Centre had however released Rs 546 crore for flood relief out of which Rs 323 crore will be given towards farmers’ input credit, Deshpande added.