Central team takes stock of drought situation in Rajasthan's Barmer dist

A Union government team took stock of the drought situation in Rajasthan's Barmer district on Monday.

A central team from farmer welfare ministry, comprising Joint Secretary Dinesh Kumar, Director Agriculture of Niti Aayog Shiv Singh Meena, Assistant Commissioner Animal Husbandry Sulekha S L and State Disaster Relief and Management Secretary Hemant Gera, visited drought-affected villages in Barmer today, an official release said.

During the team's interaction with the villagers, locals raised concern over scarcity of water, fodder, camps for livestock animals, opening fodder depot and demanded additional employment under NREGA.

A central team also visited drought-affected areas in Bikaner.

Director of Central Water Commission Puneet Kumar Mittal held a meeting with public representatives and officials.

Bikaner Collector N K Gupta briefed the water commission director about the drought-affected villages in the district.

He said 258 villages in eight out of the nine tehsils in the district are facing drought conditions.