Both Haryana and Bihar governments have sought special packages from the Centre to deal with the drought-like conditions prevailing in their states owing to a deficient monsoon.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking an assistance of Rs 23,071 crore to meet the financial burden caused by the “unprecedented” drought situation prevailing in the state.

Before leaving for New Delhi to attend the Chief Ministers’ conference convened by the Prime Minister, Kumar’s letter, which was released to the press, said the financial requirement to deal with drought situation could go up in case the other districts also received scanty rainfall in the coming weeks. The state has already declared 26 out of its 38 districts as drought-hit, where around 1.26 crore families have been affected with paddy coverage showing an overall shortfall of 57 per cent.

With the coverage of the other main crop maize also coming down to 27.4 per cent during the current sowing season, the government might consider declaring the remaining 12 districts as drought-hit, the letter said. “We are requesting the Centre for an allocation of Rs 23,071 crore for meeting the financial burden caused by the drought which is somewhat unprecedented in recent times,” the letter said. Of the Rs 23,071 crore, Rs 10,845 crore has been sought for employment generation under NREGA and other schemes.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while demanding Rs 3168.75 crore in a memorandum to the Prime Minister on Sunday, also urged the Centre to announce bonus and Minimum Support Price in advance for both paddy and bajra and added that relaxation should be given in specifications of the two crops.

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