Contingency plan in place: PMO
Seeking to allay concerns arising out of a deficient monsoon so far, the Centre on Monday said that it has put in place “extensive plans” to deal with rainfall shortage in some parts of the country. Seeking to reassure all, the government said that it is in “full readiness” to deal with any situation arising out of “rainfall anomalies”. In the current monsoon season, the country is 22 per cent rainfall deficient.
The government not only detailed the situation so far but also the steps it will be taking to mitigate the effects of deficient rainfall in a detailed statement that was issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday. It said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been apprised of the situation. The PM has directed the concerned ministries and departments to work along with state governments on this front.
Several parts of the country are already facing deficient rainfall and the PMO on Monday admitted, “The progress of the monsoon so far has not allayed earlier concerns”. The north-western parts of the country are already struggling to cope with a 33 per cent rainfall deficit.
Though the Centre is pinning its hopes on August rains, the loss so far of about 80 lakh hectares of sowing area coupled with the expected cascading effect on consumer prices and fodder shortage for livestock have sent the alarm bells ringing.
But a warning note on a less than normal monsoon had been sounded by some international agencies in March-April itself. The agencies had predicted that the monsoon could fail in the north-western parts of the country while also predicting that rainfall would be poor, said sources.
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