Areas with crop damage which did not have poor rain will still get relief after survey: CM Fadnavis

Mumbai: Responding to demands raised by ministers in the cabinet, chief minister

Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said areas with extensive crop damage which do not fit the deficient rain criteria for drought will still be included for relief after conducting ground truthing (sample survey for crop damage).

“The ministers in the cabinet pointed out that in some areas, crops had been totally destroyed even though rainfall was not deficient. This year we have had two months of heavy rain followed by a two-month gap in rainfall,” said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

He said that in such areas, a procedure has been formulated to conduct extensive sample surveys of crop loss (ground truthing). “The cabinet sub-committee will monitor this at the taluka level. We do not want an affected area to be left out because of technical reasons,” said Fadnavis.

He said this is being approved as a special case even if the area did not meet the prescribed drought criteria.

He also said that crop loss will be assessed at the mandal (circle) level instead of the taluka level. “In some talukas, the losses are concentrated in one or two mandals,” said Fadnavis.

As many as 265 of

Maharashtra’s 358 talukas, around 74 per cent of the state, have been declared as drought-affected.

However, cabinet ministers as well as Opposition leaders have pointed to other regions in their constituencies, where drought had not been declared. At the state cabinet meeting, several ministers including Chhagan Bhujbal from the NCP, Shambhuraj Desai and Gulabrao Patil from the Shiv Sena and Girish Mahajan from the BJP.

Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress demanded that his entire constituency of Karad in Western Maharashtra be declared drought-affected. “Considering the serious situation, the entire Karad taluka should be declared drought-affected,” Chavan said on X.

Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who switched from the Congress to the BJP, said he was hopeful that the Mudkhed and Mukhed talukas in Nanded would be declared drought-affected. “Low rainfall and a break in the rain did not apply to these talukas. We are hopeful that soil moisture, crop damage and other criteria will lead to them being included,” he said on X.