He said if a majority of circles in a taluka meet the Trigger 1 criteria, the entire taluka should be declared drought-affected. Kolhapur : Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has suggested a revenue circle-wise survey to bring drought-hit areas left out of state’s relief list.
Maharashtra govt has declared 265 of the state’s 358 talukas drought-affected, leaving out 93. Because the taluka, as a whole, does not qualify, chavan said several dry revenue circles in these talukas meet the rainfall deviation criterion but have been excluded.
His suggestion comes after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said following Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that govt had finalised a standard operating procedure to assess the talukas left out. He said the Undale, Yevati, Kale, Masur, Indoli and Umbraj revenue circles in Karad had been adversely affected. “Considering this serious situation, my demand to govt is to declare the entire Karad taluka as drought-affected,” he said. He said govt should prioritise construction of new check dams and begin desilting old ones without delay. This, he said, would provide work and income to people affected by the drought while strengthening local water conservation efforts.
Crop conditions will be verified through ground truthing. The assessment will also be carried out revenue circle-wise. Chavan also proposed immediate water conservation measures in affected areas. He suggested carrying out these works through employment guarantee programmes such as MGNREGA .