26 UP districts face fear of drought

With a poor monsoon season, as many as 26 districts of Uttar Pradesh face a fear of drought, officials said on Wednesday.

According to the state government, only 12 districts in the state have received normal rainfall this season, while 24 districts have received 60-80 percent rain. As many as 27 districts have received less rainfall, averaging between 40-60 percent.

Of the 75 districts in the state, 12 districts have been hit severely by the scanty rains and have only received less than 40 percent rainfall this monsoon season.

The poor rains come as a double whammy for the state's farmers who faced large-scale destruction of crops due to unseasonal rains in February and April this year.

Principal Secretary (Revenue) Suresh Chandra has sought details from the district officials on the "ground situation".

The districts which have had less than 50 percent rainfall are Lucknow, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Kanpur rural, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Ambedkarnagar, Etah, Hathras, Farukkhabad, Rampur, Lalitpur, Mau, Sant Kabirnagar, Unnao, Hamirpur, Deoria, Chitrakoot, Maharajganj, Mainpuri, Auraiyya, Pilibhit, Kanpur city, Mahoba, Agra and Kushinagar.