Odisha CM seeks drought report in seven days

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 14:

With opposition BJP mounting pressure on the government over drought-like situation in most parts of Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today chaired a review meeting and sought a report on the drought situation arising due to deficient rainfall this monsoon in at least nine districts in the state within a week.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had sought a report from the concerned district collectors where rain has played truant affecting the kharif crop.

After going through the preliminary reports, the chief minister has asked the Agriculture department to submit a detailed report within a week.

Based on the content of the report, the state government would announce compensation to the distressed farmers, Agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy said.

“The department is prepared to tackle any eventuality. It was decided in the meeting to provide solar pumps to the farmers considering the power crisis in the state,” Maharathy informed reporters after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the agriculture department is contemplating to provide free seeds kit to the farmers in the affected areas for Rabi crop cultivation. Besides, the department has been directed to repair defunct lift irrigation (LI) points at the earliest.

This apart, the department has made provision of buffer stock of one lakh quintals of seeds for short-duration crop varieties, sources said.

Chief Secretary GC Pati, Development Commissioner UN Behera, Agriculture secretary, India Meteorological Centre (IMD) director Sarat Sahu and special relief commissioner (SRC) participated in the meeting held at the state secretariat here.

Earlier in the day, the opposition BJP today submitted a memorandum to the Governor SC Jamir seeking his intervention in the drought situation.