160 of the 176 taluks in Karnataka have been declared drought-hit. With consecutive droughts, the state is staring at a crisis like no other. 

While the government has indicated that the water crisis will worsen if the summer showers fail this time round, the government is now desperately looking for every possible option to ease the water woes.

The government will now exploit the underground water reserves in the state, in the wake of wells and even borewells running dry. 

Law Minister TB Jayachandra said on Monday that the government plans to use modern exploitation technologies to identity underground water reserves. 

The Times of India reports that the government will drill to the depths of 2000 ft to find water. 

“The existing borewells are drying up too. We have earmarked Rs 200 crore to detect and drill water. Some of the untapped water reserves are believed to be several centuries old,“ Jayachandra said.

The minister said that the state government will distribute the drought relief fund sanctioned by the central government to the farmers. 

“The Centre has released Rs 1,685 crore as compensation for crop failure, and we have already distributed Rs 450 crore to 21,000 farmers. In the next ten days, we will distribute the remaining Rs 1,235 crore to 10 lakh farmers,“ Jayachandra said.