In the wake of inadequate rainfall recorded at many places, the State Government on Friday decided to declare the regions recording less than 50 per cent of rain after passing of three consecutive weeks of the season as drought-hit.
The Government would not to wait for the crop-cutting report for declaring a region as drought-affected.
This was decided at a high-level meeting presided over by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty at the State Secretariat here on Friday.
“For the first time we have taken step to declare ‘dry spell areas’ without waiting for the crop-cutting report as had been the practice earlier,” said the Revenue Minister.
He said an area would be officially dubbed as dry spell where 50 per cent less rainfall than the normal is recorded in three consecutive weeks.
“While 103 blocks had deficit rainfall earlier, the number has now fallen to 96,” claimed the Minister.He also informed media that the final report on the drought situation is yet to be submitted by the District Collectors.