Central team inspects drought in Solapur district, sees withered crops and dry lakes

Solapur: An inter-ministerial central drought assessment team arrived on Friday, October 9, in Solapur, a district whose 11 talukas are all on the drought list. Coming from Ahilyanagar district via Karmala, the team went to farms in Barshi taluka to examine the damage to soybean and tur.

The team is led by Dr K. Ponnusamy, director (crops) in the Union agriculture and farmers' welfare department, with Sumit Sharma, assistant director in the food and public distribution department, and Absar Ahmed Khan of the drinking water and sanitation department. State agriculture commissioner Suraj Mandhare, zilla parishad CEO Kushal Jain and revenue and agriculture officials accompanied it.

At Upalai (Thonge), farmers told the team that the rain stopped after July sowing and only about 25% of normal fell, wiping out soybean, tur and onion. Fields that usually yield 8 to 10 quintals of soybean an acre will not even cover costs this year, they said. Villagers asked for fodder camps or depots for about 3,000 animals and government tankers for drinking water. The team found the Pangaon storage tank completely dry.

The collector said 60% of crop-loss surveys in the district were complete, and the rest would be finished in two or three days before a detailed drought relief proposal is sent to the Centre. After Barshi, the team toured North Solapur taluka and held a review meeting in Solapur. It is scheduled to visit South Solapur, Mangalwedha and Sangola on Saturday.

Sources: Loksatta; The Times of India