Adopt drought-affected villages: Patil appeals to cooperative sector

Minister of Cooperatives Harshavardhan Patil on Friday appealed to cooperative sector to come forward and help the drought-affected villages. He was in the city to attend a meeting organised at Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration with various stakeholders to discuss the drought gripping the state.

"I appeal to all the cooperative banks, societies and sugar factories in the state to adopt villages-affected by drought. Please look after the villagers and help in providing basic amenities to them," said Patil.

Maharashtra is facing serious drought conditions in as many as 16 districts with 12,000 villages already affected severely.

"We need Rs 3,000 crore to fight drought condition. The Central government has given Rs 778 crore but this money is not enough. Hence, adopting villages will go a long way in helping the government fight drought situation," he said. The government has opened 400 fodder camps across the drought-affected areas and from these camps around four lakh cattle is benefiting every day, said Patil.

He said 2,000 water tankers are catering to drought affected villages every day but the situation is getting worse. "The district collectors have been given Rs 2 crore as drought relief money. This will be used as an emergency fund to fight drought," said Patil.

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