He expressed concern that there was not a single cattle camp in Parbhani district where six talukas are drought hit.Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asked district officials in drought-hit Parbhani district in the Marathwada region to set up cattle camps and deploy more water tankers. At the district-wise drought review meeting, Fadnavis interacted with 37 sarpanchs in Parbhani district.
Issuing a stern warning to the district administration, Fadnavis asked the officials not to cite the code of conduct for the lapses in reaching drought-relief measures to people.
He expressed concern that there was not a single cattle camp in Parbhani district where six talukas are drought hit. Only 58 water tankers have been deployed in the district. The district administration, while planning drought relief, should consider the ground realities and requirements of the people and accordingly make provisions for more tankers and cattle camps, he said.
The chief minister has been under attack from Congress-NCP leaders for not rising to the challenges of drought and instead focusing on polls tours. From NCP president Sharad Pawar to state Congress president Ashok Chavan, Opposition leaders have targeted the chief minister for not touring the drought-hit region.
An official in the CMO, however, said, “Even during his election campaign, Fadnavis used to hold review meetings to monitor drought measures. The code of conduct to some extent impacted the drought work. But from April 29 to May 9, he has held meetings daily to review the drought situation, district and taluka wise.”
In the second phase, Fadnavis has started meeting village sarpanchs and taluka officials. On Thursday, during the interaction, Palam taluka sarpanch Sangita Morgil and Maruti Mane demanded water tankers in their taluka. Parbhani village sarpanch Taramati Dandavate said the projects under Jalyukt Shivar should be promoted to create greater participation and employment of villagers.
Sarpanch Seema Kakde and Sanjay Pradhan said they require cattle camps to address the water scarcity and fodder supply for cow/cattle. The other sarpanchs from Parbhani district Vaidyanath Kadam, Subash Jadhav and Ganesh Kale complained about officials’ reluctance to sanction more water tankers which was causing a lot of hardship to the people.
Chief secretary U P S Madan, additional chief secretary Praveen Pardeshi, additional chief secretary (water supply) Shyamlal Goyal, water conservation secretary Eknath Dovle and relief and rehabilitation department secretary Kishoreraje Nimbalkar were present at the meeting, among others.
