Nagpur/Amravati: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said govt would issue a resolution on Friday declaring drought in areas severely affected due to a significant rainfall deficit. He assured direct assistance to farmers, measures to prevent shortages of drinking water and fodder, support for Rabi sowing and works for employment generation in drought-hit regions.CM made the announcement after touring areas experiencing a drought-like situation in Washim district and reviewing the situation in Amravati division. “The situation is extremely bad across crops, particularly soyabean, cotton in some areas, urad and tur,” he told the media.Fadnavis said the first drought declaration would be made under Trigger-1 of the state’s drought code. “If some drought-affected area is left out, we will conduct ground-truthing under Trigger-3 and include that area,” he said.Govt, he said, would then undertake a series of relief measures based on the severity of the situation. These would include action to address shortages of fodder and drinking water, ensure adequate foodgrain supplies and provide direct assistance to farmers on a per-hectare basis.Fadnavis also said govt would examine ways to ensure that children of affected farmers did not face disruption in their education. “In areas where water remained available, assistance would be provided to enable farmers to undertake Rabi sowing. The govt is also planning to generate employment in drought-affected areas by taking up a larger number of works, with a particular emphasis on water conservation,” he said.The prolonged dry spell has caused several water bodies to shrink. Fadnavis said works such as desilting under “Galmukt Dharan” programme, construction of water-conservation structures and repairs to existing structures would be taken up on a large scale.Fadnavis said the state would complete the formal procedures required for seeking assistance from Centre but would not wait for central funds before beginning relief measures. “We will undertake the assistance from our own resources and subsequently receive the Centre’s share,” he said.CM also gave an update on the ongoing loan-waiver payments in Washim district. He said 52,000 farmers had completed KYC formalities and 42,000 have received money in their bank accounts. Payments to another 10,000 farmers were in the process of being credited. “Those whose KYC is completed will also receive the loan-waiver amount in their accounts,” Fadnavis said.CM also addressed complaints that banks were reluctant to extend fresh loans to farmers even after their eligibility for loan waiver had been established.He said Amravati District Central Cooperative Bank has decided to provide only 50% of the eligible loan amount. The district administration has since issued a letter informing the bank that such a restriction could not be imposed.Fadnavis said govt would undertake procurement of soyabean at the prescribed support price and would complete the necessary registration process quickly so that procurement could begin before Diwali.He also indicated that market conditions could result in soyabean fetching a price higher than the govt procurement rate if demand remained strong. “Nevertheless, the govt would keep its procurement mechanism ready to ensure that farmers had the option of selling their produce under the support-price system,” he said.
