NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday about the drought situation in the state and sought assistance from the Centre.
The two also discussed a pending railway land issue for the Dharavi redevelopment plan in Mumbai during their meeting in New Delhi.
Maharashtra has declared drought in 151 talukas across 26 districts and sought an assistance of over Rs 7,000 crore from the central government.
"Had a very good meeting with Hon PM Narendra Modi ji in New Delhi. Briefed him on drought situation and measures taken by Maharashtra Govt for mitigation & requested for speedy assistance from GoI to Maharashtra. Also discussed on railway land issue for Dharavi redevelopment," Fadnavis tweeted.
"Thank you Hon Modi ji for your continuous & strong support for the people of Maharashtra!" Fadnavis added.
With an unfavourable monsoon over several parts of the state, many areas are facing a drought-like situation.
The state government has sought Central assistance of Rs 7,900 crore to deal with the exigency.
Modi will be on a day-long visit to Mumbai on December 18.
During his visit to the national capital, Fadnavis also attended a high-level meeting chaired by Modi to review progress and steps taken to improve the ease of doing business (EoDB) rankings.
Besides Union ministers handling economic matters, the meeting was also attended by senior officials from the Centre, and Delhi and Maharashtra governments.
Modi appreciated and complimented Maharashtra for its continuous efforts for improving (EoDB) rankings and also stressed for more efforts and on new targets for the next year, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office in Mumbai.