Bhopal, August 19: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the state is going to witness the worst drought of the century due to the scanty rainfall in as many as 37 districts following which it has declared them drought-affected.
“Due to scanty rainfall, as many as 37 districts of the state were declared drought-affected,” Chouhan told reporters yesterday.
The districts which were declared drought-affected are Alirajpur, Ashok Nagar, Anuppur, Barwani, Bhind, Balaghat, Burhanpur, Chhatarpur, Dewas, Dindori, Datia, Damoh, Guna, Gwalior, Jhabua, Jabalpur, Katni, Khandwa, Morena, Mandla, Narsinghpur, Panna, Ratlam, Raisen, Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Singrauli, Shahdol, Sagar, Sehore, Shivpuri, Sheopur Kalan, Shajapur, Tikamgarh, Umaria and Vidisha.
Chouhan said that he has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send a study team to assess the drought situation here.
The Chief Minister also reminded the Prime Minister that in the year 2007-08, he had requested him to provide an immediate assistance of Rs 1,548 crore for tackling the drought situation in Bundelkhand region and an aid of Rs 24,244 as a long term assistance for the development of the area.
Besides, he also demanded from the Prime Minister to pay 50 per cent of the farmers power bills as the remaining 50 per cent is being borne by the state government in view of the drought.
Chouhan also requested the Centre to relax the norms for declaring an area drought-affected.
Official sources said that due to less than 25-27 per cent rainfall in the above 37 districts, they were declared as drought-affected.
–Agencies