Sharad Pawar to take stock of Haryana and Punjab drought

With drought-like conditions staring Haryana and Punjab, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will be visiting the two major foodgrain producing states later this week to take stock of the situation.

The two states have so far experienced deficient monsoon.

Pawar will hold a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here on Friday, an official spokesman said here.

Haryana had last week sought a special package from the Centre to deal with the drought like conditions.

The Haryana government has also constituted a Committee of Secretaries to keep a vigil on the situation arising out of deficient rainfall in the state.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said he will be meeting Pawar during his visit here.

Badal said that he had already taken up the matter with the Prime Minister and Pawar earlier seeking a relief of Rs2380 crore from the Centre in view of the drought-like situation.

Both States face rainfall deficiency of around 70% so far.