Central team reviews drought in Amravati division, inspects farms in Washim district

Washim: The Centre's inter-ministerial team reviewed drought conditions and crop losses in all five districts of Amravati division at a meeting at the Washim collectorate on Friday, October 9, and then visited drought-hit villages in Washim district. The team includes senior officials Abhay Bharat, Sanjay Meena, Seema Rani, Mahesh Kumar and Arjesh Kumar Madhok. The Centre has appointed an 11-member team for the drought assessment in the state, with officials from the agriculture, water resources, rural development, water supply, food and public distribution, animal husbandry and finance departments and NITI Aayog.

The meeting was attended by collectors Yogesh Kumbhejkar (Washim), Ashish Yerekar (Amravati), Vikas Meena (Yavatmal), Pravinkumar Deore (Buldhana) and Varsha Meena (Akola), each of whom presented the situation in their district. They drew the team's attention to crop losses caused by the rainfall deficit, the availability of drinking water and the likely need for tankers, the problems of farm labourers and landholders, and the possibility of labour migration. The team also gathered information on the fodder situation and the likely position over the next seven months.

After the meeting, the team inspected crop losses at Supkhela in Washim taluka and visited a minor irrigation project at Swasin in Mangrulpir taluka to review water scarcity in the area. It also went into fields at Kothari, at Kupta in Manora taluka and at Kalikaranja and Panvihir in Karanja taluka, talking to farmers. Its findings on the drought, crop losses, water scarcity and the measures needed will be placed before the central government.

Sources: Pudhari; Mahasamvad; Agrowon