Drought-hit Thar farmers to wait for relief work till April

BARMER: Rajasthan energy minister BD Kalla has said relief work for drought-affected Barmer district will start from April 1, but for Thar farmers reeling under dry conditions, it’s a long wait.

Kalla, minister in-charge of Barmer district, chaired a meeting here on Saturday to take stock of the progress of welfare schemes and programmes.

Of the total 2775 villages in the district, 2694 have been declared drought-affected; a government report has called it the severest drought of the decade.

The district received scanty rainfall for the fifth year in a row. According to official data, 1600 villages of the district were drought-affected in 2014; 1470 in 2015; 2478 in 2016 and 1900 in 2017.

Sawairam Mali, a farmer from a village near Barmer, said, “Despite failure of monsoon about six months ago, government has not yet launched relief

› People of many villages have started migrating towards safer locations to get drinking water and fodder SAWAIRAM MALI, farmer

activities.”

After monsoon failure in September, people started facing shortage of drinking water and fodder for cattle. “People of many villages have started migrating towards safer locations to get drinking water and fodder,” Mali said. Officials asked for crop assessment on September 15 last year and the report was submitted on October 15.

The report revealed that Barmer received 128 mm rainfall this monsoon against the average of 275 mm. In 2191 villages, crops have been fully damaged and 503 villages recorded 75% crop loss, the report said.