Rs 2,000 cr retained as contingency funds for drought relief

Mumbai: Keeping in mind the severe drought conditions in the state, the government has kept an additional Rs 2,000 crore from contingency funds for drought relief measures in the state.

In addition to this, an outlay of Rs 8,733 crore has been kept for irrigation projects with special attention to drought-affected areas like Vidarbha and Marathwada.

Due to shortage of rainfall, the government has declared drought in 151 talukas affecting 85.76 lakh hectares.

In addition to these talukas, the government has also declared drought in 268 revenue circles.

Further, 5449 villages, where the crop estimate is below 50 paise, have been declared as drought-hit. The number of farmers affected is 8,227,166.

“To help drought-affected farmers, an amount of Rs 2,909 crore has been distributed for the drought-affected farmers and Rs 1,507 crore has been credited to the bank accounts of 42 lakh farmers. Besides, Rs 2,000 crore has been sanctioned from the contingency funds to make sufficient provision for these farmers,” said finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

A decision has been taken to execute rural and urban drinking water supply schemes, which had stopped functioning due to arrears of electrical bills in the drought-prone region, by paying five per cent of the principal amount.

A decision has also been taken to pay current electricity bills during the period November 2018 to June 2019. Besides, a sum of Rs 3366 crore has been distributed to farmers affected by bollworm, he said.

“Baliraja Jal Sanjivani Yojana” is being implemented to provide financial assistance to farmers in suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada and the drought-prone region in the rest of Maharashtra. During the year 2019-20, an outlay of Rs 8,733 crore has been proposed for the water resources department, said Mr Mungan-tiwar.