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Drought tag for entire Jharkhand by Amit Gupta


Governor M..H. Farook today declared eight more districts as drought-hit, bringing the entire state in the parched bracket ahead of a central team visit.

With this, the memorandum of demands to be forwarded to the Union government, seeking financial assistance to mitigate the effects of drought, will be redesigned. It is now pegged at around Rs 3,000 crore against the earlier Rs 2,157 crore.

An eight-member central team, led by managing director of National Horticulture Board Bijay Kumar, is scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday.

The new districts that have earned the drought tag are West Singhbhum, Simdega, Lohardaga, Koderma, Dumka, Pakur, Godda and Sahebganj. Earlier, the 16 districts of Latehar, Ramgarh, Chatra, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Khunti, East Singhbhum, Jamtara, Palamau, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi, Giridih, Gumla, Deoghar, Garhwa and Hazaribagh had been were declared drought-hit.

“We are preparing a notification with regard to all the districts being declared drought-hit. Additional demands will be sent to the Centre,” disaster management deputy secretary A.M. Thakur told The Telegraph. The governor, at a review meeting with his advisers and departmental secretaries, took the decision, he added. “Percentage of crop coverage, rainfall data and indices such as moisture content in the air together presented a negative picture, which prompted the decision,” said an official who was present at today’s review meeting.

Disaster management officials have, in the meantime, returned from Delhi after submitting a memorandum of demand to the tune of Rs 2,157 crore to the Union ministry of agriculture. Thakur said the proposal was submitted to Atanu Purkayastha, joint secretary in the Union agriculture ministry.

Out of the Rs 2,157 crore, the state has at its disposal Rs 390 crore, which it received from the 12th Finance Commission under the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) head.

Now, with all the districts being declared drought-hit, departments concerned will have to prepare additional demands. “The new demands will be prepared in proportion to those for the earlier 16 districts,” agriculture and animal husbandry secretary Arun Kumar Singh said.

The departments associated with drought assistance and relief work include agriculture, animal husbandry, health, human resource development, food and civil supplies, energy, social welfare, drinking water and sanitation and fisheries.

A majority of the funds has been demanded to ensure availability of drinking water. Other heads will include gratuitous relief under which BPL families otherwise not covered by any government scheme will get a monthly payment of Rs 400.