PM meets 3 CMs, directs action
PM meets 3 CMs, directs action
With an eye on the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday played the drought card and sought Rs 11,000 crore from the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a one-on-one meeting with Mr Yadav, and also held a meeting with officials of the state.
While the UP chief minister sought immediate relief packages from the Centre, the Prime Minister stressed on the need for medium- and long-term “drought-proofing” solutions. The PM pressed the chief minister to prepare for the monsoon season with check dams, farm tanks and de-silting.
Incidentally, Bundelkhand region of UP is reeling under sever drought conditions but the state government had refused the Centre’s move to transport water by train. Mr Yadav told reporters outside the PM’s Office that the villages in the state need to be provided with drinking water urgently. “We need water tankers. The trains cannot reach villages. We immediately need Central assistance to buy 10,000 tankers,” said Mr Yadav. The PM, who also met the CMs of Maharashtra and Karnataka, reviewed the situation in UP and directed immediate assistance.
With UP already in election mode as the state polls are to be held in February 2017, political parties are trying to score points on the issue of drought. The BJP has high hopes in the state after having won 73 out of a total 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and is seeking to wrest power in Lucknow next year. In contrast, the ruling Samajwadi Party is seeking to revive the campaign for the waiving of farmers’ loans due to poor monsoons for the last two years. The SP is seeking to put the blame on the ruling NDA at the Centre for not bailing out the farmers in a time of growing agrarian distress. The BSP, whose singular focus is on the issue of the deteriorating law and order situation, is targeting both the BJP and the SP for the worsening situation of the farmers.
Meanwhile, the Centre in a media statement maintained that over '934 crore had already been disbursed to UP so far. The Niti Aayog also briefed the PM about the steps taken to alleviate the drought condition in Bundelkhand region. The UP government said the state has drawn up an action plan for revival and restoration of 78,000 water bodies, including tanks, ponds and one lakh new water bodies, besides recharge structures in rural areas.
The previous UPA government had sanctioned a package for Bundelkhand, but the region still suffers.
