State announces sops for people from drought-hit areas

PUNE: As the State government on last Thursday announced another 931 villages in the state as ‘drought-affected’, the government announced several benefits and concessions to people from drought-affected areas.

To address the drought situation in these villages, the government has decided to provide water tanker facility, restructuring of farmer loans, stopping loan recovery process for now, electricity meters of farmers not to be disconnected, provision of discount to farmers for electricity bills on water pumps, and exam fees for students from the drought-prone areas are to be waived. 

The responsibility of execution of these measures has been given to respective collectors of the villages.The government has already started distribution of fodder seeds to farmers in drought areas to tackle the issue of fodder scarcity in drought-prone areas.