The BJP on Tuesday knocked the door of Raj Bhawan to declare the State drought hit immediately even as the State Government is cautiously assessing the agricultural scenario at ground levels.
A delegation of senior BJP leaders including former CM Arjun Munda and State BJP chief Ravindra Rai met Governor Syed Ahmed on Tuesday and demanded that the State should be declared drought hit due to less rainfall and inadequate water for paddy cultivation. The party leaders including former CM Munda, State party head Rai, senior leader Saryu Roy, former Assembly Speaker CP Singh along with others submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking a white paper on the actual agricultural scenario in the drought-like situation prevailing in the State.
“Apart from the White Paper on the drought situation, it has been demanded that the agricultural loans of the peasants should be relaxed for sometime. The BJP also demanded that the farmers should be compensated with a minimum of Rs 10,000 per acre for crop loss if they fail to cultivate their land,” said State BJP spokesperson Pradeep Sinha.
Meanwhile, according to Met Department’s Ranchi office the average deficiency in rainfall from June 1 to August 12 is 29 per cent. “The State has received 430 mm rainfall till date since June 1. This is against the average rainfall of 679 mm during the said period. This means that the State is 29 per cent deficient. But in some of the districts of northern area like Chatra, Koderma and Giridih the deficiency is between 30 and 50 per cent,” said GK Mohanty, Director of Meteorological Sciences Centre Ranchi.
Though Mohanty added that rainfall was normal in some of the districts, he accepted that there was no uniformity in rainfall pattern and that is why the average rainfall was less. He said that rains were continuing in the State but they were uneven.
The State Government, on the other hand, is treading very cautiously on the matter. As per official statistics only 32 per cent of paddy sowing has taken place till date. The agriculture department is keeping a close watch on the situation. “As of now only 32 per cent paddy cultivation has taken place. We are sending regular reports to the Government and a Special Task Force comprising officials from different departments has been made to look into the matter. We will be ready for any sort of situation with arrangements for cultivation of alternative crops too,” said Director in-Charge of Agriculture department Rajesh Kumar Sharma.
A senior IAS officer requesting anonymity said that a preliminary discussion had taken place on Tuesday morning about the issue. “We are assessing the ground situation. Some people have gone into the areas to review the condition there and when they come back a meeting is very likely. Declaring drought is not easy processes as we have to take into account various statistics and facts. Inputs from agriculture and disaster management departments will be taken into account. There are various aspects of it including the technical ones,” he said adding that the CM was likely to call a meeting on the issue soon.