Maharashtra government on Wednesday declared drought in a total of 151 talukas, out of which 112 talukas are under the severe drought category while 39 have moderate drought.
The decision to declare 151 talukas as drought affected came on the day when the Devendra Fadanvis government completed its 4 years in the state.
“It is a formidable challenge as we are heading for a severe drought in Maharashtra. Poor rain coupled with a long dry spell leading to crop losses adversely impacted 151 talukas in the state. Of which 112 are under severe drought category,”said the Chief Minister.
The Maharashtra government has scaled up the drought-mitigation measures from the day of announcement. Relief measures such as deploying water tankers, providing employment opportunities to the villagers and electricity and education fee waiver will continue to exist for the next six months till April. According to a report by The Indian Express, officials have received directives which expects them to not relax the relief measures offered to the drought-hit talukas.
Earlier the government had decalred 182 talukas as drought affected ones. A relief and rehabilitation department official told The Indian Express, “Ideally, drought is declared only after the rabi season in December-end or January. But the government decided to acknowledge the current situation and rush relief measures.”
Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan have questioned the state government. He said,”20,000 villages in 201 talukas are drought hit. But drought has been declared only in 151 talukas. When will drought be declared in the remaining 50 talukas?”
Massive public response to the Jan Sangharsh Yatra has forced the government to finally declare drought in Maharashtra.
20,000 villages in 201 talukas are drought hit. But drought has been declared only in 151 talukas. When will drought be declared in the remaining 50 talukas? pic.twitter.com/Y0e9Rusj5c
— Ashok Chavan (@AshokChavanINC) October 31, 2018
NCP leader Dhananjay Munde said,”The state had assessed that 180 talukas were facing drought. Now it has excluded 29 drought facing talukas. Due to the stringent rules of the 2016 Drought Manual of central government, about 100 talukas are feared miss the benefits of mitigation measures.”
राज्यातील दुष्काळी परिस्थितीबाबत राज्य सरकारने केलेल्या पहिल्या पाहणीच्या आधारे प्राप्त झालेल्या अहवालानुसार १८० तालुक्यात गंभीर दुष्काळ असल्याचे निदर्शनास आले असताना सरकारने आज १५१ तालुक्यामध्येच दुष्काळ जाहीर केला असून, वगळलेले २९ तालुके कोणत्या निकषाआधारे वगळले ? pic.twitter.com/ezuAdJp8Ls
— Dhananjay Munde (@dhananjay_munde) October 31, 2018
As per a report, the following list shows districts along with the number of talukas that are declared as severely affected by drought: Sangli (5), Solapur (9), Satara (1), Dhule (2), Palghar (3), Jalgaon (13), Nandurbar (3), Nashik (4), Ahmednagar (11), Aurangabad (9), Beed (11), Jalna (7), Nanded (2), Osmanabad (7), Parbhani (6), Hingoli (2), Amravati (1), Buldhana (7), Yavatmal (6), Nagpur (2) and Chandrapur (1).
The districts along with talukas which were placed under medium drought category were reported to be Pune (7), Satara (2), Dhule (1), Nashik (4), Nanded (1), Hingoli (1), Amravati (4), Buldhana (1), Washim (1), Yavatmal (3), Akola (5), Nandurbar (1), Latur (1), Chandrapur (4), Nagpur (1), Wardha (2).