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The Centre has approved Rs 1,207-crore relief package for Maharashtra to tackle the prevailing drought in parts of the State.
The Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar also approved a relief package to States such as Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttaranchal to deal with floods and landslides.
Pawar said Maharashtra will receive Rs 807 crore to deal with rabi crop losses in about 3,900 villages across the State. Another Rs 400 crore would be provided to the owners of save their orchards from the impact of drought.
Water shortage
Successive dry spells in the past two years have induced severe drought in parts of Maharasthra such as Vidarbha and Marathwada, where availability of drinking water has become a major issue.
“There is a seamless shortage of water and many villages receive drinking water supply through tankers once a week or once in ten days,” Pawar said.
The water level in many of the storage reservoirs in Maharasthra has touched the zero levels, while some have about 10 per cent.
Drought relief
The Agriculture Minister said the Centre has also received a request for drought relief from Kerala for which a team would be sent soon to assess the situation at the ground level.
“We will consider the request from any other State for drought relief package sympathetically,” Pawar said.
Cane output
Replying to a query, Pawar said the drought may hurt sugarcane planting for the next season in Maharashtra. However, the overall output for the 2013-14 season would be around 24 million tonnes as Uttar Pradesh is doing well, Pawar said.
For the current season, the Agriculture Minister expects sugar output at 24.5 mt.
PTI reports:
The Centre has decided to release a relief package of more than Rs 2,892 crore for seven states, including Maharashtra, to help them tackle the impact of droughts, floods and landslides faced last year.
The total relief package for Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Gujarat, Kerala and Uttarkhand is Rs 2,892.61 crore, excluding the funds allocated for cattle camp in Maharashtra.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Rs 1,207.84 crore has been approved for Maharashtra, Rs 864.71 crore for Gujarat and Rs 66.61 crore for Kerala to tackle drought. The EGoM also approved Rs 54.49-crore relief package to Kerala that suffered floods last year.
Besides, Rs 417.12 crore has been approved for Andhra Pradesh in the wake of cyclone Nilam, Rs 115.32 crore for Himachal Pradesh, Rs 93.76 crore for Sikkim and Rs 72.76 crore for Uttarkhand due to cloud burst, floods and landslides.
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