DROUGHT IN MAHARASHTRA
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday approved ₹2,000 crore from its contingency fund towards drought relief work. The amount is in addition to the recent announcement of ₹2,900 crore by the government for drought mitigation.
“To provide relief to droughthit areas, the state cabinet has decided to increase its contingency fund to ₹2,150 crore from ₹150 crore. The additional ₹2,000 crore will be used for relief measures,” said chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain.
Jain said the state has already released ₹1,500 crore, and another ₹1,500 crore will be released soon. The provision of ₹2,000 crore will be used as the third instalment towards aid.
There are total 358 tehsils covering 36 districts in the state and each revenue circle comprises 30-40 villages. Around 25 districts of the state are currently facing drought and acute
THE NDRF NORMS
up to 2 hectares: Compensation for farmers working on non-irrigated land
up to 2 hectares: Compensation for farmers working on irrigated land
up to 2 hectares: Compensation for horticulture crop framers water shortage. According to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms, the state declared drought in 151 tehsils on October 31 last year, making all villages under them eligible for Central assistance. The state then sought an aid of ₹7,962 crore, of which the Centre sanctioned ₹4,714 crore, forcing the state to arrange for the remaining ₹3,248 crore. After uproar by Opposition and farmers’ organisations for leaving out affected villages from the list , the government later declared 318 revenue circles as drought-hit and agreed to spend ₹3,000 crore on relief measures, bringing the state’s total contribution to over ₹6,000 crore.
The state last faced drought in 2016, with Marathwada and Vidarbha being worst-hit. “For relief measures in drought-hit areas, the state cabinet has decided to increase its contingency fund to ₹2,150 crore from ₹150 crore. This ₹2,000 crore will be used for drought relief.” DINESH KUMAR JAIN, chief secretary
ACCORDING TO NDRF NORMS, THE STATE DECLARED DROUGHT IN 151 TEHSILS ON OCTOBER 31 LAST YEAR