BENGALURU, Sept. 18 -- Karnataka on Thursday expanded its drought declaration to 23 more taluks after a field assessment found them eligible for relief, adding to the 101 taluks already declared drought affected for the Kharif season.

The Revenue Department issued the order following ground verification and a comprehensive assessment by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. The new declaration covers 21 severely drought affected taluks and two moderately affected taluks and will remain in force for six months.

The 21 taluks in the severe category are Tiptur in Tumakuru; Karatagi in Koppal; Manvi, Sindhanur and Sirwar in Raichur; Afzalpur, Aland, Chittapur, Kalaburagi, Yadrami and Shahabad in Kalaburagi; Bhalki in Bidar...