Central government team to survey water scarcity affected areas in Gujarat next week

A central government team will be in Gujarat from December 16 to 18 to survey the water scarcity-hit areas in the state. The Vijay Rupani government had sent a memorandum to the Center seeking aid for 51 talukas under the State Disaster Response Fund. The central government team will sanction the request after surveying the area.

Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel said: “Initially, we had declared 14 talukas of the state as scarcity-hit after poor monsoon there. We had then added 34 more talukas to the list as per the new norms of SDRF and calamity approved by central government. The central team will travel to these areas and then allow us to use SDRF fund for relief after the survey.”

He said the government has decided to declare 45 more talukas as scarcity-hit. “The state government will spend money for relief for these areas from contingency funds,” Patel added.

However, Patel didn’t divulge exact amount to be spent on relief. The state government on Wednesday reviewed the relief measures taken so far as well as future plans.

The revenue minister said: “The government will start paying relief to cattle owners and cattle camps from December 15. We are going to pay Rs 25 per day for each cattle kept in camps. We have also kept 8 lakh tonnes of grass reserved for cattle in affected areas.”