The Tamil Nadu government, which recently declared all 32 districts as drought-affected, has urged the Centre to sanction a sum of Rs. 39,565 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund to provide relief to the farmers for the damage caused due to the drought situation.
The sum was necessary to provide relief to the farmers for the damage caused to the crops due to the failure of the monsoon; to ensure drinking water supply; for maintaining adequate fodder availability; and for generating employment programmes, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
An official release issued on Monday said, Mr. Panneerselvam requested the Prime Minister to depute a team from the Centre to study the extensive damage caused to agriculture crops and to take stock of the drinking water scarcity in the State. The Chief Minister sought an urgent sanctioning of a sum of Rs. 1,000 crore as ‘on account’ payment from the NDRF to enable taking up immediate relief and rehabilitation measures to mitigate the drought situation.
The Chief Minister referred to the damage incurred by the State due to the heavy floods in 2015 and cyclone ‘Vardah’ in December last year and said the funds available with the State government was “not sufficient to meet the situation”. The State was in “urgent need of assistance” from the NDRF to take up immediate relief and rehabilitation measures.
Out of 16,682 revenue villages in the State, 13,305 villages have been identified as drought-affected. The ground assessment exercise carried out in 1,564 villages revealed that in about 87 per cent of the area, the extent of damage was more than 50 per cent indicating that the drought is ‘severe’ in a majority of villages. “The situation is likely to worsen in the ensuing months as the North-East monsoon has come to an end and further rains are not part of the normal pattern,” he said.
The Chief Minister added that the drought situation in Tamil Nadu has been exacerbated by the non-release of water by Karnataka in accordance with the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
A detailed memorandum from the Tamil Nadu government along with the Chief Minister’s letter was submitted at the Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi by Commissioner of Revenue Administration K. Satyagopal and Revenue Secretary B. Chandra Mohan on Monday, the release said.
