RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh declared 93 tehsils in 20 districts across the state as drought-hit in view of deficient rainfall this season, at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh here today.
"After an extensive discussion, the cabinet decided to declare 93 tehsils of 20 districts as drought-hit and a proposal in this connection will be sent to the Centre," Chhattisgarh Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said while interacting with reporters after the meeting.
These tehsils would not have crop yield higher than 50 paise as per 'Aanawari' which is a measure of crop yield in farms.
Districts whose tehsils have been declared drought hit are Balod, Dantewada, Koriya, Raipur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Gariyaband, Durg, Bemetara, Rajnandgaon, Bastar, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Bilaspur, Mungeli, Korba, Raigarh, Balrampur and Jashpur.
"So far, the state has recorded 83 per cent less rainfall compared to the last year. Keeping this in view, decision has already been taken to release water for irrigation from all reservoirs possessing abundant water according to the demands of different region," the minister said.
"While water is being released from the state's biggest reservoir at Bango Dam in Korba, the cabinet gave its nod today to release water from the Ravishankar reservoir in Dhamtari district for irrigation," he said.
Directives have also been issued to reserve water for drinking, he said.
"The government will also decide about collecting taxes from drought-hit areas. More tehsils may be declared drought hit in the near future," he said.