Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Nripendra Misra Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Friday and sought a package of ₹7,962.63 crore for drought relief.

A central government team is already in the State to assess the drought situation. On Thursday night, the team held a meeting with Mr. Fadnavis in Nashik. “The team has assured to submit the report to the central government at the earliest,” Mr. Fadnavis tweeted.

The State government had declared 151 tehsils of 26 districts as drought-hit, of which 112 are in the “severe” category and 39 in “medium”. The Hindu in its report on November 2 had said the State would require a package of around ₹7,000 crore to tackle the drought.

On Friday, the Central team held a series of meetings with State government department officials. “The State is facing a severe condition in most of the places. The Centre’s team too has seen the condition. We have requested the Centre to ensure grant of maximum fund required to tackle the situation,” said Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, and Public Works Minister Chandrakant Patil who attended the meetings.

Drought team report

The Central team also submitted its observations to the State government as per which the demand of water tankers and fodder camps for cattle is increasing.

A suggestion has been made to increase works under Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme and to ensure adequate water supply to cattle.

The State currently has 98 lakh MT fodder reserves and expects production of another 25 lakh MT fodder. An proposal for an additional ₹85 crore has been sent to the Centre to provide work for 50 additional days under MGNREGA.