Gujarat for master plan as State faces another drought

Gujarat for master plan as State faces another drought
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, OCT 15: With the second consecutive spell of drought staring in its face, the State Government has directed all the Distrtict Collectors to prepare on a war footing a master plan to meet the situation arising out of the natural calamity in their respective areas.

The Government is also all set to declare scarcity in drought-hit parts of the State, with the District Collectors concerned expected to send in "anavari" (crop assessment) reports to Gandhinagar by month-end. About 7,500 villages spread over 145 talukas in 15 districts will be in the grip of severe drought this year, as against 9,449 villages of 155 talukas in 17 districts the previous year.

And, in its desperate bid to save the live stock and meet the impending shortage of fodder, the Government will soon write to the Union Agriculture Ministry to impose a blanket ban on the inter-State movement of grass till next year. The Government will also request the Railway Ministry for a free-of-cost movement of fodder by the Railways on 13 different routes, identified by the State Revenue Department.

"The Collectors have been asked to prepare two separate comprehensive master plans, one each for the scarcity and drinking water problem, and send them to the Revenue Department early next month," S N Dave, the Joint Secretary (Relief) told The Indian Express here, asserting the State relief machinery will swing into action as soon as this exercise is over.

An emergency meeting of the District Collectors of the worst-affected Saurashtra-Kutch region was convened by Chief Secretary L N S Mukundan to discuss various aspects of the impending drought, such as that crop assessment, relief works, requirement for fodder and drinking water. Another such meeting of the Collectors from the North and Central Gujarat districts will follow sson.

Dave said only a couple of days back, the Valsad District Collector had issued tenders inviting private parties to purchase fodder not only from the greener parts of South Gujarat, but also from the neighbouring State of Maharashtra. Besides, arrangements are being made to purchase fodder from Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. The fodder requirement this year will be around 10 crore kg, as compared to 12 crore kg last year, he said.

Responding to a query, the revenue official said the expenditure to fight the impending drought in the State was estimated around Rs 500 crore, as against the Rs 600 crore spent previous year. An amount of Rs 120 crore is at present available with the Government under its calamity relief fund, and the remaining funds will be raised through assistance from the various financial agencies like the HUDCO and the ICICI, Dave said.

He admitted that the Centre had provided a meagre assistance to the State during the natural calamities on the earlier three occasions. While the State had received only Rs 54.58 crore from the National Funds for Calamity Relief to fight the 1999 drought as against its demand of Rs 722 crore, a meagre assistance of Rs 55.35 crore was provided against the demand of Rs 600 crore for the Kandla cyclone. The Centre had extended the assistance of only Rs 79 crore to Gujarat, as against its demand of Rs 600 crore for the 1997 floods.