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Advani to head task force on drought

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 30. The Centre has decided to constitute a Special Task Force (STF) to manage the drought conditions in several parts of the country with emphasise on four-points, including water and asset creation.

The Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, said in the Rajya Sabha that the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had constituted the STF under the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, so that drought management could be done in a coordinated manner.

Responding to concern over drought conditions expressed by the TDP's Alladi Rajkumar and floods by the Leader of the Opposition, Manmohan Singh, the Finance Minister said a four-point criteria had been placed before the task force which included the Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Civil Supplies and Finance.

The criteria included working on water, employment, nutrition and asset creation and not just famine relief. He said the stress was on asset creation.

The Government had begun drawing contingency plans after early signs of drought. He said with each day passing without rain, the problem had affected several States, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Jaswant Singh said he had already held discussions with the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on this `serious issue'.

Referring to floods, especially Assam's problems, he said the Centre was alert to the situation and it would address the problem under the calamity relief fund. On carrying out relief work in Assam due to financial crisis, Jaswant Singh said that while the Centre was aware of the economic conditions, it could not alter the situation overnight. He said Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh were experiencing floods since there was excess flow of water from Nepal, which had received unprecedented rainfall, the maximum in the last 30 years.

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