TN govt declares six districts as drought affected

The Tamil Nadu government has declared six districts of the state as drought affected.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has declared six districts of the state as drought affected.

Additional Chief Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management, Kumar Jayant has declared 25 blocks of Pudukottai, Ramanathapauram, Sivaganga, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar districts as moderately drought affected.

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According to agriculture department officials, blocks where crop damage is more than 33 per cent due to rainfall shortage are declared as moderate agriculture drought affected blocks.

There was insufficient rainfall in these blocks from October 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

A senior official of the Tamil Nadu agriculture department told IANS that if the rainfall comes down beyond a certain percentage, ground water level will decrease leading to hydrological drought in summer period.

The official said that when hydrological drought occurs in summer, the government declares such areas as drought affected.

The farmers in these districts have, according to sources, petitioned to the state Agriculture Relief Commissioner to take necessary action in these drought affected blocks.

The Tamil Nadu government has already appealed to the Cauvery Water Management Authority to direct Karnataka government to release the state its volume of water from the Cauvery river. This is following the Kuruvai farmers petitioning the government of a shortage of water from Mettur dam due to the reduced flow of water from Cauvery into Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu water resources minister, S. Duraimurugan has already handed over a letter written by Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to the Union Jalshakti Minister, in a recent meeting regarding the shortage of Cauvery water in the state and the sufferings meted out to Kuruvai paddy farmers due to this.