Poor rainfall, water in dams depleting: CM asks ministers to tour drought-prone areas

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday directed ministers to tour areas which did not receive adequate rainfall during the monsoon and face a possible drought with shrinking water levels in dams. At the cabinet meeting chaired by Fadnavis, a detailed presentation was made on the water situation in each taluka and the challenges ahead. “Fadnavis directed ministers to visit each taluka. Every minister has been assigned a cluster of talukas, which they will tour. The ministers will then submit reports by October 30,” a minister who attended Tuesday’s meeting told The Indian Express.
Based on the reports, Fadnavis is likely to urge the Centre to provide financial assistance to tackle the situation.

Maharashtra has 355 talukas. In 28 talukas, the rainfall was between 25 and 50 per cent this monsoon, 143 talukas received 50-75 per cent rainfall and 121 talukas 75-100 per cent rain. Only 63 talukas received more than 100 per cent rainfall.

The presentation at the cabinet meeting highlighted the fact that 201 talukas meet the first criteria listed in the drought guidelines, which relates to poor rainfall and long dry spell. Whereas, there are 54 talukas which conform to the second criteria of drought guidelines relating to agricultural output.

For each taluka, a committee headed by the district collector has been set up. Another committee headed by the state agriculture commissioner has been constituted to assess the drought situation.

A senior official said, “The assessment of drought is determined by multiple parameters mandated by the Centre’s manual for drought management.”
The total water stock in 3,266 dams in the state is 40,828 million cubic metres. It comes to 64.45 per cent water stock. Last year it was 74.62 per cent.