Haryana Government has decided to establish drought monitoring centres at district level to carry out monitoring and assessment of drought conditions.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu, after presiding over training workshop on monitoring of drought as per revised Manual for Drought Management, 2016, said that drought monitoring centres would be set up at district level in the state.
He said that while the Meteorology Department had predicted possibility of normal monsoon in the State and country this year, Haryana Government is fully prepared to tackle any possible drought situation.
“In case of any natural calamity in the last two-and-a-half years, the present State Government has paid the largest amount as compensation in the least amount of time,” he added.
The Minister said that in 2016, the Central Government had decided to prepare new manual for tackling drought situation, and now deadline was being fixed for preparation of data related to precipitation, area under cultivation, moisture level of soil, groundwater table and other agriculture-related aspects.
The officers of Central Government informed officers of different departments of Haryana Government about the new manual, which would help the State to be better-prepared, he added.
During the workshop, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Keshni Anand Arora, directed officers of departments concerned to regularly submit data of their Departments to the State Government from June 1, 2017 onwards. This would help provide timely weather warnings to farmers and help in timely and accurate assessment of losses due to drought, she said.