The Maharashtra government has decided to declare drought in another 1,420 villages of the state. Last month, the state government had declared drought in 14,708 villages.
The Maharashtra government has decided to declare drought in another 1,420 villages of the state. Last month, the state government had declared drought in 14,708 villages.
To provide financial assistance to all the affected villages, the state government will also seek a relief package of Rs 4,332 crore from the Centre. The announcement was made on Saturday by relief and rehabilitation minister Eknath Khadse.
Mr Khadse also said that a team of officers from the Central government are expected to visit affected areas within eight days as he has held talks with Union home minister Rajnath Singh and Union agriculture minister Radhamohan Singh on the issue.
“The state government has accepted the norms set up by the Centre for declaring drought. On that basis, drought was declared in 14,708 villages last month. Now, another 1,420 villages have been declared as drought-hit from Buldhana district of Vidarbha region. The report of the district came late,” Mr Khadse said.
He said that the state government is in the process of making a detailed report to get financial relief from the Centre. “We will be sending a proposal of Rs 4,332 crore seeking a relief package from the Centre for the affected villages. I have spoken to the Union agriculture minister and Union home minister who is also heading disaster redressal committee of the central government,” Mr Khadse stated.
Maharashtra has received less than 75 per cent of rainfall this year creating drought situation in many districts. Villages that have declared drought affected are from Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad, Amravati Akola, Yavatmal, Washim, Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Buldhana.
