Even as the district is reeling under severe drought and people are facing acute drinking water shortage, the government has turned a blind eye towards the problems of the district and not yet declared the district ‘drought-affected’ to provide relief to the people. The heat wave has also added to the woes of the people in the district.
Palakkad has the maximum number of dams in the State. There are nearly a dozen dams in Bharathapuzha alone. But most of these dams and water bodies, including rivers such as Bharathapuzha, Bhavani and Siruvani have dried up, creating acute water shortage. The average temperature now has crossed 40 to 42 degrees Celsius.
Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has accused the government of not taking any action to meet the drought situation. They said the farmers in the district faced crop loss. For want of irrigation water paddy crops in some parts of Chittur and other places were also destroyed.
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Now the severe heat has affected the cash crops like coconut, rubber, coffee, pepper, cardamom etc.