BRS demands drought declaration as August dry spell hits Maha dists

The BRS Maharashtra Unit Kisan Cell on Tuesday demanded that the State government initiate measures for declaring Marathwada region as drought-affected.

Hyderabad: The BRS Maharashtra Unit Kisan Cell on Tuesday demanded that the State government initiate measures for declaring Marathwada region as drought-affected and reach out to peasant community caught in the grip of severe scarcity conditions.

Manik Kadam, President of Kisan Cell said that the farmers were getting restive as the August dry spell had totally impacted the crops and the situation was becoming grim in several parts of the state, Over 3000 villages were facing acute scarcity of drinking water. The party had staged protest demonstrations at the collector’s offices and presented memoranda to the authorities concerned.

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It is now gearing to take up the issue in a serious manner. A delegation of the party would meet the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and submit a memorandum. Maharashtra recorded just 111.7 mm of rainfall so far this August. The state rainfall is deficient by 56%. The situation resulted in a big surge in demand for water tankers for potable water supply.

He said the people in the region had started comparing their plight with the neighbouring pockets in Telangana districts. Though the two states were sharing the same climatic conditions, the BRS government could insulate the Telangana villages and towns from the impact of dry spells with the help of Mission Bhagiratha water supply.

He explained that over the past four to five years, more and more areas in the state were becoming highly drought-prone. The situation is deteriorating not only in Marathwada but parts of north Maharashtra, such as Beed, Osmanabad, Jalna, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Nanded and Dhule. The farmer community was paying a high price. The State government should come to the rescue of the farmers by assessing the crop losses, he insisted.