4,518 more villages drought-hit, state declares relief measures

UNENDING WOES Unseasonal rain, hailstorms in some districts of Vidarbha; government says assessing situation

MUMBAI : Almost half of Maharashtra’s villages are now reeling under drought, with the state government adding another 4,518 villages to the list on Thursday. As per rough estimates, around 21,000 villages in the state are currently drought-hit.

The state had earlier announced drought in 151 tehsils and 318 revenue circles.

Maharashtra has 358 tehsils, with each tehsil comprising between 50 and 80 villages, and there are more than 2,000 revenue circles, with 20 to 40 villages in each circle.

“The villages that received less than 75% of the average rainfall and those with crop estimates, or Anewari, of less than 50% have been declared drought-hit. The state government will immediately provide relief measures in the affected villages,” said Chandrakant Patil, state relief and Financial assistance was sought by the state Financial assistance the Centre agreed to provide

Tehsils were declared drought-hit by the state government as per NDRF norms on October 31, 2018, following deficient rainfall

Additional revenue circles were added to the drought-affected list after uproar by Opposition parties and farmer organisations over leaving out affected villages

rehabilitation minister. The department, too, issued a government resolution.

Among the immediate relief measures announced by the state are exemption for farmers from

paying land revenue; restructuring of farm loans; stay on recovery of farm loans; 33.5% concession in electricity bills for agriculture pumps; no disconnection of electricity supply of agriculture pumps over non-payment of bill; and waiver on exam fees of school and colleges students; among other things.

Around 60%, or 85.76 lakh hectares, of the total cultivable land in the state and 82.27 lakh farmers have been affected by drought so far. The calamity has also hit the sowing for rabi season. As per statistics from the state agriculture department, sowing was recorded on 29.6 lakh hectares till December-end, which is 52% of the average sowing in the season.

UNSEASONAL RAIN AND HAILSTORM HIT FARMS

A few districts of Vidarbha witnessed hailstorms and unseasonal rains on Thursday, adding to the woes of farmers, with those cultivating crops for the rabi season likely to face huge losses.

There was hailstorm in two tehsils — Bhokardan and Ghasangvi — of Jalna district in Marathwada, while untimely rainfall was recorded in parts of Buldhana, Amravati and Washim districts of Vidarbha region.

The state has directed district administrations to assess the crop loss. “We are assessing the situation and will take further decision based on the reports from district administration,” said Patil.