As many as 1.95 crore hectare of land in 97 districts of six States — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Rajasthan — are facing drought this year.
According to Ministry of Agriculture, these six States have sought relief of Rs 16,773 crore from the Centre to tackle drought situation. But Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have not sought relief from the centre due to tedious process to get relief from the centre, officials said.
Odisha has also declared drought during Kharif 2018 but the State Government has not submitted any memorandum so far. As per IMD, 250 of the 681 districts across the country have faced deficient rainfall this year.
In a reply to Bhagwanth Khuba, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that 26 districts of Maharashtra, 24 of Karnataka, 18 of Jharkhand, 11 of Gujarat, 9 of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan each have faced drought this year and sought drought relief package of Rs 16,773 crore. Memorandums to this effect have been submitted to the Ministry. Taking note of their memorandum, the Ministry has set up inter-ministerial high level committee to assess the damage and recommend the financial assistance from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).