Cattle Camp in Beed district of Marathwada. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)Although the monsoon is predicted to arrive in Maharashtra by mid-June, the state government has decided to continue with the cattle camps to ensure uninterrupted supply of drinking water and fodder for cattle. The cattle camps will continue till the end of June.
The government, for the first time, has also set up a separate fodder camp for goat/sheep in Sangola taluka in western Maharashtra.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday visited the cattle camp at Pangri village in Beed district of Marathwada. During his visit, Fadnavis interacted with farmers to know the situation on the ground in the drought-hit district. He also personally inspected the cattle camp and enquired about the water and fodder requirements.
Fadnavis said, “The state government will provide all financial and logistic support to farmers to overcome the drought situation. The cattle camps will continue for the entire month of June. There are adequate provisions to ensure drinking water supply and fodder in cattle camps.”
The chief minister said, “We have provided Rs 4,700 crore for drought mitigation measures. Apart from this, Rs 1,300 crore has been provided for cattle camps. All the farmers whose crops have been damaged are being sufficiently compensated.”
Earlier, the cabinet sub-committee for drought held its meeting to review the situation across all drought-hit districts in state. The state has declared drought in 151 talukas out of a total of 355 talukas.
As of now, there are 1,583 cattle camps in the state that accommodate 10.68 lakh cattle. For cattle camps, the government has allocated Rs 135.18 crore to Aurangabad, Rs 5.07 crore to Pune division, Rs 47 crore to Nashik division while the animal husbandry department has got Rs 13.81 crore, said Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.
