A week after asking ministers to tour drought-affected areas in the State, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has now asked guardian secretaries of each district to tour drought-affected districts and submit reports before May 21.
Mr. Fadnavis has been holding meetings, several of them through video conferencing, in Mumbai over severe drought conditions in the State. He wrote to the Election Commission of India to exempt drought-relief work from the model code of conduct and the request was granted.
On Sunday, Mr. Fadnavis directed guardian secretaries to visit their districts to look after drought relief work in their respective areas. “The secretaries will also ensure that required tankers and facilities such as fodder camps are provided in the area,” he said.
The CM's directions come a day after the Opposition slammed the government alleging it is suppressing the demand of water tankers as it will expose the failure of CM's flagship Jalyukta Shivar scheme.
“Maharashtra’s villages has a total demand of over 10,000 tankers. The government has provided barely 50% of the total demand. This is being done to hide the failure of Jalyukta Shivar scheme,” Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant had alleged.
Last week, senior State ministers, including Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan, had claimed that local government officials are not eager to work for drought mitigation as they fear the model code of conduct.
