CM moots national drought mitigation fund

Battling drought second year in a row, Maharashtra’s chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has discovered infirmities in the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) law and mooted that there should be a National Drought Mitigation Fund.

The suggestion has found a receptive audience in the trio of prime minister Manmohan Singh, union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia at a meeting held on Saturday morning.

“The problem with the NDRF is that it is more suited for sudden disasters like earthquakes or floods, and which last for a short time. Unlike such events, we can see a drought on its way, much in advance. But  as per the law, we have to wait till a final assessment of the damage is done,” Chavan told reporters. He explained that the net outcome of the procedure adopted under the NDRF is that the state got its share of aid for last year’s drought in the third week of August 2012.

With 52 percent rainfall deficit, and major reservoirs like Jayakwadi below the dead storage, the state faces a serious drought situation.

“We have declared 122 talukas drought-affected, and told the Centre that our drought-related expenditure would be Rs4107 crore, and we shall need an assistance of Rs3572 crore,” he informed.

Explaining the key features of the proposed NDMF, Chavan said that it shall have long-term as well as short-term measures to tackle the multi-dimensional crises created by the lack of rainfall. “For instance, we have proposed a one-time allocation of Rs2,270 crore for completing 105 small and medium irrigation projects as well as other schemes that could become functional before the next monsoons,” he said.

Referring to the uneven nature of rainfall in the state, the chief minister informed that heavy rains in certain parts had affected power generation by coal in some places. “Due to the problem of wet coal, power generation has been stopped in two units in Bhusaval and Chandrapur,” he said.

Chavan hoped that the NDMF idea would get fleshed out in the days to come and the process of consulting other stakeholders would also get underway.

“There has been acknowledgement of the fact that drought in successive years needs to be tackled differently, and this year the impact on the overall economy has been much more severe,” he said.