The next meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) will decide on a proposal to declare Wayanad district drought-hit.
Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan told the Assembly on Wednesday that the government was seized of the situation in Wayanad following a 59 per cent deficit in rainfall during the southwest monsoon season this year.
Facing pressure from legislators representing the district, he said Wayanad did not figure on the list of districts recommended by the State Drought Monitoring Cell for drought declaration in the first phase by mid-October.
Explaining the norms for drought declaration, he said the groundwater situation in Wayanad was fairly comfortable as a result of the water conservation measures launched by the district administration last year.
Replying to a submission moved by C.K. Saseendran in the House, he said efforts were on to take up nine new irrigation schemes to tap the water from the Kabini river.
I.C. Balakrishnan, another MLA from Wayanad, said coffee and pepper farmers in the district were facing a crisis due to drought. Officials said the hasty declaration of a drought would impose curbs on withdrawal of groundwater, aggravating the crisis faced by farmers. They said it would also affect credit repayment.
