The four-member Central team, which is on visit to the district to assess the drought situation, will submit its report to the Government within one week.

The team, along with senior district officials, visited Kunnathur and nearby areas in Annur Taluk, where they inspected the loss of crops such as coconut, turmeric, sugarcane, banana and grains, an official release said today.

The team was briefed about the acute shortage of water due to failure of both monsoons, which was happening after a gap of 140 years, it said.

Thought the district has received 820.6 mm rains last year, it was only 223 mm, a deficit of 67.5 per cent. North East monsoon was totally failure and as against 333.3 mm last year only 109.1 mm was received during this year.

On cultivation, the release said that as against the 9,869 hectares of cultivation during normal period, maize was cultivated only in 82.30 hectares, while the area of grain has come down to 220 hectares from the normal 4,662 hectares, the release said.

The district officials displayed photographs of loss of crops, dry ponds, water bodies and lakes across the district to substantiate their claim for suitable compensation.