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| Central teams in U'khand to assess drought |
| Shishir Prashant / New Delhi/ Dehra Dun May 22, 2009, 00:22 IST |
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After assessing the situation in Uttarakhand where 11 of the total 13 districts are affected by drought-like conditions, centrals teams today advised the state government to take effective measures to mitigate the suffering of farmers.
Three teams of the centre, headed by joint secretary agriculture RK Tiwari, held a high-level meeting with chief secretary IK Pande and other top state officials here.
The team members agreed with the state officials that the situation was bad in most parts of the state due to drought-like conditions. In this regard, they advised the state government to take measures like water harvesting, agriculture insurance for the benefit of farmers.
However, the central teams did not discuss the topic of any relief package as being demanded by the state government, which had sought Rs 200.14 crore from the Centre.
The long-dry spell during the past six months has badly affected wheat and other crops in the hilly region with Tehri, Almora and Pithoragarh districts bearing the brunt of the scanty rainfall.
The woes of people have been compounded due to the dry spell as well as recent hailstorm.
Agriculture minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the scanty rainfall had not only affected agriculture and horticulture crops but was also drying up natural water sources. Though 11 districts are affected by the drought-like conditions, 50 percent of the crops are damaged in 3,216 villages of the 5 districts alone, state chief minister BS Khanduri had said.
Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan is also making contingency plans to install more hand pumps where water scarcity is acute. A separate budgetary allocation is being made in this regard.
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