By IANS
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide a special package for drought affected districts in Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions of the state.
In a letter to the prime minister Thursday, Chouhan also asked for the inclusion of three Vindhya region districts – Satna, Rewa and Sidhi – in the centre’s study for long-term drought control measures.
The study is being conducted by a central inter-ministry team in six districts of the Bundelkhand region – Sagar, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna and Datia – to find out the circumstances and trends leading to recurring drought and recommend measures to mitigate its ill-effects.
“Chouhan has said that a similar appeal was made by the state government in January 2000. The three districts of the Vindhya region were as badly affected by the drought as the six Bundelkhand districts under study,” an official said.
The kharif crops have failed for the fourth consecutive year in these areas where only 30 to 35 percent of the sown area gets irrigated.
The chief minister has also asked Manmohan Singh to increase the number of days under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to 180 in drought affected districts, the official said.
The chief minister said the state government has chalked out a Rs.220 billion special development scheme for the nine districts and allocated funds for providing employment, drinking water and fodder but these were short-term measures and there was an urgent need for medium and long-term measures to find a lasting solution and minimize the effects of drought.