Maharashtra minister says severe drought declaration may come by month-end
Maharashtra Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil says the state could declare a 100 per cent drought by the end of the month after what he described as an unprecedented dry spell. Measures announced include student fee and electricity-bill waivers and water-tanker deployment.
Maharashtra could declare a 100 per cent drought by the end of the month, Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil said, according to The Hindu. Patil described the dry spell as exceptionally severe, saying he had never seen conditions of this kind. The source material does not provide rainfall figures, the areas affected or the criteria that would be used for a formal declaration.
The minister said the government had already begun measures in response to the conditions. These include a fee waiver for students and a waiver of electricity bills. The government has also deployed water tankers, according to the report.
The available information does not state how many tankers are operating, how many people are affected or which districts are receiving assistance. Patil’s statement indicates that the drought declaration remains prospective rather than confirmed in the supplied material. The possible timing given was the end of the month.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.