MUMBAI: The guardian ministers would review the drought situation in the 201 out of 358 talukas in the state, the council of ministers under the chairmanship of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis decided at their meeting here on Tuesday.
The situation in the rural area is grim with almost 200 of 367 talukas battling the scarcity conditions.
"We are following the drought manual prepared by the Centre in 2016 and that has helped us in planning everything well in advance. We are collecting information on several aspects related to the drought condition and for that purpose, we decided at the council of ministers that all the ministers would tour the talukas to review the process of collection of the information on drought," Fadnavis told the reporters after the meeting here at the state secretariat.
"One of the main reasons behind the drought is the low rainfall. Only 77 percent less of the average rainfall has been recorded in 201 of the 358 talukas of the state," he added.
"Be it water-scarcity issues or crop damages, the ministers have been instructed to make a detailed plan after they visit the drought-hit talukas. This would not only helps in understanding the situation but allows to counter-check. Above all, we are all prepared to control the situation that we have to face," Fadnavis said. The state government had last week launched "Maha Madat" website and App to keep track of monsoon activity in the state, the crop situation, moisture content in the soil and underground water table.
Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Chandrakant Patil had said while launching the app that a survey using remote sensing satellite imagery would be done and based on six parameters laid down by the Center in determining drought conditions between October 5 to October 25, the drought would be declared by October 31.
While officials from agriculture department informed the council of ministers during today' meeting that nine districts in the state are worst affected by the drought, minister of state for agriculture Sadabhau Khot said that the cotton is the worst hit crop due to the drought.
"According to primary reports received from the disaster management teams, as of today, 201 talukas from Yevtamal, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalgaon, Gadchiroli, Nandurbar, Dhule, Satara and Sagli districts are in alarming situation. Among these districts, the yield on 1,41,255 hectare agriculture land is badly affected by the drought as it the rains were below average," the minister said adding that cotton, soybean, Tur (pigeon pea), Urad (Black Gram) and Moong (Green Gram) are the most affected crops in the state.