According to an estimate by agriculture department, the ongoing drought has caused a crop loss of Rs7,900 crore in the state. The government has demanded central assistance of Rs1,100 crore.
An eight-member central team, headed by joint-secretary to Union agriculture ministry EK Majhi, today held a meeting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and finance minister Asim Dasgupta to get a first-hand report on the drought situation in West Bengal.
The team also held talks with agriculture minister Naren De, disaster management minister Murtaza Hussain and secretaries of the departments concerned.
According to an estimate by agriculture department, the ongoing drought has caused a crop loss of Rs7,900 crore in the state. The government demanded central assistance of Rs1,100 crore to address the situation.
Dasgupta later told reporters that the state government was expecting the required financial assistance from the Centre after the team declared the situation as drought-hit following its visit to 11 districts.
One group has left for Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and North 24-Parganas districts while another went to South 24-Parganas, Purullia, Bankura, Burdwan, Hooghly, West Midnapore and Birbhum, he said.
The entire team would return here on September 10 and hold another round of meeting with chief minister, finance minister and others before returning to Delhi the next day to submit its report.
Dasgupta said that the preliminary talks with the central team were positive.
"We hope to get adequate central assistance from the Centre to meet the crisis arising out of the severe drought that the state had last witnessed 27 years ago," he said.
The state government has already held talks with state-level bankers' representatives to explore how farmers' short-term crop loans be converted into long-term.
With the kharif crop suffering immense damage, the state government has been examining proposals to introduce
alternative cultivation in the rabi season.
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