Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday held a review meeting with collectors of 15 drought-stricken districts through video conferencing. The CM asked officials to be prepared for not only for May, but also in case the monsoon is delayed. On the other hand, district collectors demanded more money to tackle the situation.
The CM made a video conference call from his official residence Varsha at Malabar Hill to the collectors of Sangli, Satara, Pune, Osmanabad, Latur, Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, Solapur, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Amravati, Buldhana and Ahmednagar districts. Chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad, additional chief secretary (relief and rehabilitation) Pravinsigh Pardeshi and other state government officers were also present during the conference.
“The situation, particularly in Sangli and Satara, is grave, where 140 and 145 villages in these districts are being provided water through tankers respectively. The administration is trying to increase the tankers’ number of trips,” an official from the CMO said.
“The CM asked about steps taken by the administration. Tankers are being monitored via SMS, with gram panchayat members or senior members in villages informing the authorities through SMS about the tankers’ visits,” the official added. The collectors have been directed to set up a 24x7 cell to monitor the drought situation.
Meanwhile, the collectors said they need more funds to tackle the drought effectively. In the affected districts, the collectors have authority to sanction repair work of water supply schemes up to `25 lakh, whereas divisional commissioners can clear proposals up to `1 crore.
A state official said the government has sought a package of `1,118 crore from the Centre for providing drought relief.