Rahul to interact with drought-hit farmers of Aurangabad

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will interact with farmers and labourers of drought-hit villages of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

His visit to the district comes two days after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced Rs 10 crore funds as drought relief in the district.

Chavan, who reviewed the situation in the district on Saturday, had said that drought was a consequence of bad monsoon, and not of any man-made factors as the Opposition was accusing.

The state has received less than normal rainfall in the last two years, he had said.

The water stock in irrigation reservoirs across Maharashtra has gone down to 17 per cent and the number of villages being supplied water through tankers has risen.

As many as 4,195 villages and 10,570 hamlets in the state are being supplied water by tankers.

A total of 5,171 water tankers are supplying water to drought-hit areas. Last year, the number of tankers at this time was 2,111.

Marathwada region, comprising eight districts including Aurangabad, Nanded, Latur, Jalna, Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad, and Hingoli, has 803 major, medium and small sized dams.