BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Friday submitted an additional memorandum to the Centre seeking assistance of Rs 511.507 crore to deal with the drought situation.
The State Government had submitted an interim memorandum to the Centre on November 23 seeking an assistance of Rs 1687.561 crore for drought in 173 blocks of 25 districts where crop loss was estimated to be 33 per cent or more.
The memorandum said due to sustained dry spell, more crop areas in the previously affected villages as well as new villages have come under the grip of drought. Taking these into account, cumulatively 13.41 lakh hectares of crop area in 215 blocks of 26 districts in the State have sustained crop loss of 33 per cent and more as on date, it said.
According to the earlier estimates, the State Government was preparing for distribution of Rs 416.274 crore as agriculture input subsidy for the crop loss. As the crop loss area increased, now the State required an additional amount of Rs 511.507 crore towards agriculture input subsidy for crop loss and the total requirement of funds towards agriculture input subsidy increased to Rs 927.779 crore.
The submitted additional memorandum is seeking a total Central assistance of Rs 2,199.066 crore for the management of the current drought. However, the actual volume of crop loss will be ascertained after the crop cutting experiment of kharif paddy is over on the basis of which the State Government will submit the final memorandum, if required, it said.
Meanwhile, the 10-member Central team on drought, which has been divided into two teams, visited affected areas in Western Odisha districts. The team will meet with State Government officials at the Secretariat here on Saturday.