“The month of August has almost been dry, so a drought situation is arising in Madhya Pradesh now. Crops are in danger”Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
The Cabinet sub-committee on drought in Karnataka led by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Monday instructed district authorities to conduct a joint survey in 134 taluks and submit a report within a week after the completion of ‘ground truthing’
Bhopal:
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said a drought-like situation and power crisis have emerged in Madhya Pradesh due to no rains last month and he appealed to people to pray for good showers in the state.
The state government is making efforts to purchase power from other states, but such a situation is prevailing in the entire country, Chouhan told reporters in Ujjain after offering prayers at the Mahakaleshwar temple.
The assembly elections in the state are due this year-end.
“The month of August has almost been dry, so a drought situation is arising in Madhya Pradesh now. Crops are in danger. I have prayed to Mahakal that it rains well and the crops be saved,” Chouhan said.
“I appeal to the people in villages and cities to pray according to their local traditions for good rains. The prayers are heard, they work. If the prayers are offered with true sentiments, God showers blessings,” the CM said.
The state government will leave no stone unturned to work for the welfare of farmers, he said. “I held a meeting yesterday to deal with the situation arising out of scanty rains. Instructions have been given to release water from dams where crops can be saved from such a step,” he said.
Chouhan said the power crisis also arose in the state due to scanty rainfall.
“During this season, so much electricity is not required due to the availability of water in dams and water bodies. Farmers don’t run motor pumps due to water availability. The water in dams also results in power generation,” he said.
Generally, 8,000-9,000 MW power is needed in this season, but the demand has gone up to 15,000 MW, resulting in the demand-supply gap and farmers are not getting adequate electricity supply, the CM said.
“I have directed to arrange and purchase electricity so that farmers can irrigate their agricultural fields. I admit that there was a problem for three days recently. We made efforts, but the drought-like situation is prevailing in the entire country,” he said.
Chouhan appealed to the people to be judicious in using electricity.
Karnataka
The Cabinet sub-committee on drought in Karnataka led by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Monday instructed district authorities to conduct a joint survey in 134 taluks and submit a report within a week after the completion of ‘ground truthing’.
Ground truthing is a process of comparing data collected through aerial sources like satellite imagery with that of physical measurements gathered at the ground level.
After identifying drought places, a memorandum will be submitted to the Centre seeking financial assistance, the Revenue Department said in a statement.
Also, the sub-committee has decided to form a task force under the chairmanship of MLAs at the assembly constituency level from the date of annoucing the drought-hit places, it added.
Expenditure on provision of emergency drinking water through tankers or rented bore wells to residential areas where there is shortage of drinking water will be defrayed through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
In the statement, the sub-committee said on August 19, a joint survey was conducted and it found that out of 113 taluks, 62 were eligible to be declared as drought affected places as per guidelines.
However, after the joint survey, there were reports that the crop situation had worsened again. So, it was decided to conduct a joint survey again in the remaining 51 taluks.
It was also decided in the sub-committee to notify the deputy commissioners for ground truthing in 83 taluks.
”In total 134 taluks have been instructed to submit the report within a week after completion of ground truthing,” the statement said.
The sub-committee has decided to allot Rs 20 crore to the Animal Husbandry Department to distribute fodder sowing seed kits to the farmers in the coming days. Speaking to reporters after the sub-committee meeting, Minister Gowda said Karnataka has witnessed several fluctuations in the rainfall in the last three months of rainy season.
In June, the state suffered a drastic shortage in rainfall. In July, there was excess rainfall whereas in August there was deficit in the range of 60 to 70 per cent, he told reporters.
”The deficit in the rainfall has severely impacted crops across Karnataka. We had to declare complete crop holiday in some of the irrigated parts of the state. In the rain-fed areas, farmers have sown crops which have not sprouted in some areas. And if they have sprouted they have wilted away due to moisture stress in subsequent months,” the minister said.
Gowda said the guidelines designed by government of India for declaration of drought do not conform with the times of climate change. In June, there was a deficit. In July there was an excess rainfall and in August, there was a severe deficit, he added.