CM: Start drought work under EGS in three days

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday directed the administration to start drought-relief work under the employment guarantee scheme (EGS) within three days.

Mr Fadnavis held a meeting to review meeting drought situation in Ahmednagar, Solapur, Nashik district at his official residence Varsha.

In the meeting, Mr Fadnavis directed officials that the maximum work in the drought-affected districts should be started under the EGS, the approval should be given to such works within three days and the compliance report on these works should be submitted. Twenty eight types of works can be undertaken under NREGA. The CM  also asked the sarpanchas to conduct maximum water conservation work in their villages.

The CM has been holding such meetings since the past three days. So far he has reviewed eight districts’ drought situation.

Under attack from the opposition over the issue of drought, the Fadnavis government was recently allowed by the Election Commission to take relief measures in the state after it had sought relaxation of the model code of conduct.

Mr Fadnavis also directed the tehsildars to tally the demand for tankers in accordance with population of the village and animal population of 2018 and to check whether the water is being supplied accordingly. He also said that the problems of fodder camps should be resolved at the earliest.

The Maharashtra government has increased the quantity of fodder being provided for animals in cattle camps set up in the drought-affected areas.

According to a Government Order (GO) issued on May 4, the quantity of fodder has been raised from 15 kg to 18 kg for big animals and 7.5 kg to 9 kg for small ones.

At present, there are 1,264 cattle camps functioning in the state housing 8.32 lakh animals. Each big animal gets a grant of Rs 90 and the small one Rs 45 for water and fodder.

Mr Fadnavis also held a discussion with 125 sarpanchas of Ahmednagar, Solapur and Nashik district through ‘Audio Bridge system’.

Congress gives memorandum to government on drought issues

The state unit of the Congress will be visiting drought-hit regions in Maharashtra from May 12 to 20. The decision was taken at a meeting held Friday to review the drought situation by state party chief Ashok Chavan. A delegation of Congress leaders led by Mr Chavan met governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao to submit a memorandum demanding relief measures for drought-affected areas.

Mr Chavan alleged that the people were migrating from drought-hit areas owing to failure of the state government. He said that the people who had migrated were working as labourers and in the event they did not get any work, they were forced to beg.

He said that the gram panchayat, district council and local body government should have prepared a plan for drought relief in October and November last year and the same should have been given approval by December. Post this, district collectors should have been empowered to approve expenditure every month as per the needs. But the BJP-Shiv Sena government did not take any drought relief measures during the election period.

Under the pretext of the model code of conduct for the general election, an attempt was made to hide the incumbent government’s failures. The government was busy with elections and it could not take drought relief measures, said Mr Chavan.

The Congress state president said that the administration had completely abandoned drought-affected people during the Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that no work had been taken up during the election, and drought-hit people had suffered no end. The state government had publicised widely the Jalyukta Shivar, a water conservation programme, where PM  himself had said that 16,000 villages had been made drought-free and that another 9,000 villages were on the way to becoming drought-free. Mr Chavan questioned why state was facing severe drought despite all this.