Maharashtra: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday declared 180 divisions (tehsil) as drought hit and announced a slew of measures to provide relief from the situation.
Briefing reporters about the measures taken, Fadnavis said, “Today we have declared drought in 180 divisions across the state. The State government will implement eight measures to deal with it. As part of these measures we will be adjourning different types of collections from the farmers, electric-connections will not be disconnected, water tankers would be deployed, students will get relaxation in examination fee and the collections related to loans will be adjourned among others.”
Fadnavis further asserted that a ground report will be sent to the Centre and after a team visits the region, aid from the union government will be extended to the affected regions.
Although Maharashtra has seen many droughts, Fadnavis noted that this is the first time a drought is being declared in the month of October.
The Chief Minister’s announcement believed to have come after a report was submitted by the Maharashtra government’s water supply and sanitation department this month.
As per media reports, the department had pointed out that nearly 11,500 villages of the state’s 40,000-odd villages faced scarcity due to a combination of less than normal rainfall and exploitation of groundwater.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]