Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002 |
| Southern States | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Southern States
-
Tamil Nadu
By Our Special Correspondent
A delegation of the AIADMK Parliamentary Party led by P.H. Pandian, called on the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and submitted a 40-page memorandum with visuals on the severity of the drought conditions. Briefing correspondents after the meeting, Mr. Pandian said the Prime Minister sought to know whether a team of experts from the Centre had visited the State to assess the conditions. The delegation informed Mr. Vajpayee that a team was yet to tour the drought-hit areas. The delegation also requested the Prime Minister to grant interim relief and said that Mr. Vajpayee "appeared inclined to consider" the request. The delegation said the party MPs had raised the issue of relief in both Houses of Parliament during the last session and the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, had already taken up the matter. The memorandum, which contained data on the drought, was based on the assessment of the State Government. The delegation said the Chief Minister had a meeting with all district Collectors on July 30 to assess the situation and based on it, the Government had prepared the data. It said Tamil Nadu had been affected severely with as many as 19 districts facing adverse conditions. While the water level in reservoirs was dipping to 12.4 per cent of capacity, more than 95 per cent of tanks and ponds had gone dry. The anticipated shortfall in cultivable areas was 7.55 lakh hectares and the area cultivated but affected by drought was 17.34 lakh hectares. Mr. Pandian said the parliamentary party members would call on the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani next week. The signatories to the memorandum included the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, P.G. Narayanan, V. Maitreyan, S. Gokula Indira, R. Kamaraj, N. Jothi, S.P.M. Syed Khan, Thanga Tamil Selvan (all Rajya Sabha) C. Sreenivaasan, V. Saroja, P. Kumarasamy, Dalit Ezhilmalai, M. Chinnaswamy, T.M. Selvaganapathi, S. Murugesan, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, K.K. Kaliappan.
Orissa seeks Rs. 870 cr.
Our Staff reporter reports from Bhubaneswar: The Orissa Government is seeking a sum of Rs. 870 crores and 12 lakh metric tonnes of rice from the Centre to cope with the drought situation prevailing in the State. According to sources in the Revenue Department, the final memorandum — with details about the drought-hit areas, crop damage and funds required to overcome the crisis — would be submitted to the Central Government on Thursday. Orissa had earlier asked for an interim assistance of Rs. 500 crores apart from seeking three lakh metric tonnes of rice for undertaking labour-intensive works under the food-for-work programme. The State Government has declared that as many as 283 of the total 314 blocks had been affected by drought. The remaining 31 had not been declared drought-hit as more than 50 per cent of the area in those blocks had guaranteed irrigation facility. The Revenue Department had estimated that the State would suffer crop loss in the order of Rs. 1,800 crores this kharif due to bad monsoon. In July, which is most crucial for kharif cultivation, the State received 60 per cent less rainfall, the lowest in the past 40 years. The Government had already instructed the district administrations to take up labour-intensive works to provide work to the people and prevent migration. The District Collectors, Sub-Collectors and sarpanches had been authorised to run free kitchens up to a period of two months, one month, and one week respectively depending on the gravity of the situation in their respective areas.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
