Maharashtra grappling with acute drought

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, SEPT. 4. More than half way through the current monsoon, large tracts of Maharashtra are reeling under scarcity of drinking water and fodder. In Osmanabad, farmers had to replant crops after they wilted due to poor rainfall.

As many as 7,262 villages have been categorised as ``scarcity hit'' and an enormous fleet of tankers deployed to supply drinking water to over 800 villages and 1,233 hamlets. The Government, however, does not have the correct number of people affected but the turnout at employment guarantee schemes is said to have increased.

The Government has its Plan size cut by the Centre by about Rs. 800 crores and has not received much aid. Against a plea for Rs. 750 crores, all that Maharashtra secured was a paltry Rs. 100 crores.

With aid to the extent of Rs. 10 for a calf and twice that amount for a grown animal, some sugar cooperatives have already started cattle camps. According to the latest statistics, over 6,000 animals have been kept in these 28 camps, spread over Pune, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Solapur districts. It is feared that the numbers might go up.

A measure of the distress can be found in the number of tankers deployed to carry drinking water. Last year, only 34 tankers were used; this year, 595 are in service.

Not all tanks have received normal flows and some have been reported to have less than half of the normal levels of water. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board has had to suspend power generation in some hydel projects due to inadequate water levels, and to save the water for use later by other consumers if required. But this may create complications later in managing power generation.

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Section  : Other States
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