Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday said that the Central Government has approved nearly 2500 solar pumps for Chhattisgarh.
These solar pumps can be utilised in case of irretrievable pumps, he said while chairing the fourth meeting of Chhattisgarh State Rural and Other Backward Areas Development Authority held at the Mantralaya.The Agriculture Department officials informed in the meeting that the total rainfall recorded in Chhattisgarh from June 1 till now is only 43 per cent of the average record of last 10 years.
Only in the three districts of the State namely–Koriya, Baloda Bazar and Kabeerdham, rainfall has been recorded to be 80 per cent of last 10 years’ average, they stated.Meteorologists are expecting monsoon to be active again on July 12 this year, the officials stated. The Chief Minister stated that the State Government is alert and is prepared to tackle the situation that may arise due to inadequate rainfall.
Singh assured the public representatives that if the monsoon brings inadequate rains in State this year, the State Government will adopt all kinds of relief measures for farmers and other needy people.All the district collectors have been instructed to formulate a ‘Contingency Action Plan’ for this purpose, he said.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister also directed the Health Department officials to ensure availability of generic medicines in all the government hospitals and also issued directives to constitute a ‘Red Cross Society’ in all the Community Health Centers and District Hospitals within a month.
He directed collectors to ensure availability of sufficient stock of generic medicines in medical stores of Red Cross Society, situated in District Hospital premises.The Chief Minister also directed that public awareness programmes and promotional campaigns should be organized to create awareness among people about benefits of generic medicines.
On the issue of inadequate rainfall, the Chief Minister said that the State Government has decided to establish weather stations at every 10 kms for collecting necessary data about rainfall in various parts of state. Earlier the last date for registration/submission of application for weather-based crop insurance scheme was July 15, 2014, which has now been postponed to July 31, 2014, he said.
In every district, instructions have been issued to formulate contingency action plan for employment-oriented works. It is also being ensured that the farmers get regular supply of electricity for their irrigation pumps, the Chief Minister stated.It was informed in the meeting that the Authority was sanctioned nearly Rs 4 crore in year 2013-14 for providing electricity connections to the irretrievable irrigation pumps of total 1117 farmers. Till date, irretrievable irrigation pumps of total 640 farmers have been provided electricity connections.
There is a target of electrifying irrigation pumps of remaining 477 farmers by October, 2014. In the current financial year 2014-15, Power Distribution Company of state has already provided electricity connections to nearly 27,000 irrigation pumps, against the target of 21,000.In the current financial year, main budget of the authority is Rs 52 crore. In the last meeting of authority, total 48 works worth nearly Rs 2 crores were approved on proposals of public representatives.
In the meeting, the officials informed that total 1173 works were approved in financial year 2012-13 from Authority’s funds. Out of which, 694 works worth Rs 36 crore have been completed. likewise, total 1384 works worth Rs 47 crore were approved in financial year 2013-14.