No steps taken by state govt to tackle drought, says Sharad Pawar

MUMBAI/NAGPUR: NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday asked CM Eknath Shinde to prepare an action plan to tackle severe drought across the state. According to reports, the state govt has sought financial assistance of Rs 2,690 crore from the Central govt for tackling drought.

“Now the Lok Sabha elections are over, state govt must come out with an action plan. However, from ground reports, it appears the govt is yet to wake up and is yet to take major steps. As a result, most parts of the state are facing acute shortage of drinking water,” Pawar said.

MPCC chief Nana Patole also accused the state govt of inaction under the garb of the poll code.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis hit back at Pawar and Patole and accused them of politicising the issue. He said that it was unbecoming of a senior politician like Pawar to use drought-hit people’s sufferings as a political tool to criticize the state govt. He emphasized the state govt was proactively working to address people’s woes in the parched areas and said CM Eknath Shinde had convened a meeting in Mumbai to tackle the drought situation.

Pawar said that while 40 tehsils in 19 districts are experiencing severe drought, there is mild drought in 16 tehsils. “If the present condition continues till June, it will be very bad. We found that no stringent steps have been taken for providing drinking water to the villagers,” he said.

Pawar said that out of 2,092 circles in the state, drought has been declared in 1,500, most of which are in the Marathwada and Pune revenue divisions. “Maharashtra has the highest number of dams in the country, and 40 dams in Marathwada are crucial for supplying water to villages. It was found that water stock in these dams stood at 16%,” he said.

Pawar pointed out that the hometown of agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde has been facing severe drought, but he was conspicuous by his absence at the review meeting convened by CM Shinde. “Only two cabinet members attended the meeting. Shinde must take note of absence of cabinet members at his meeting. We hope govt will rise to the occasion. If it fails to take corrective measures, we have options,” Pawar said.

Patole said Shinde must tackle drought on a war footing and code of conduct should not be an excuse for delaying work. “The situation in most villages is very bad, several villages do not get water for months together. At a meeting convened by CM, five guardian ministers did not attend,” Patole said.

Fadnavis said, “It seems Pawar and the opposition have slumped into a pessimistic state of mind. They must be aware govt made adequate arrangements for supplying water by tankers to drought-hit areas even when LS polls were on. We have implemented measures to mitigate the situation and they will continue till the situation improves.”