DROUGHT RELIEF PACKAGE SOUGHT

DROUGHT RELIEF PACKAGE SOUGHT

Kerala, facing a searing drought, will urge the Centre to sanction it a special Rs. 4,000-crore relief package Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his Cabinet colleagues will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the request during their visit to Delhi on Monday and Tuesday.4^th March,2013The State has sought support from the National Calamity Contingency Fund and other sources to face the drought.The poor rainfall has put the State in a quandary, and with the summer looming, the problems will worsen, a representation to be submitted to the Prime Minister said. The poor monsoon has affected agriculture and the acute water shortage may even lead to famine. The inflow to the reservoirs of the State is 40 per cent less than expected. As a result, the power generation possible will be as low as 5,382.1 million units against the targeted 6,993 million units. Power generation from the Idukki hydroelectric project has dropped to its lowest since the commissioning of the project in 1974, the representation said.

Kerala has not experienced such a situation since 1980. The groundwater level has depleted by four metres from its five-year mean value in many blocks of the State, say data collected from open wells of the Groundwater Department. As the agricultural sector has taken a beating, the price of various commodities on the open market has gone up.The State government has issued orders for distribution of drinking water in tankers and the repair and augmentation of water-supply schemes. They include piped water supply schemes, bore-wells with motors, hand pumps, wells and any other sources of drinking water, it said.The District Collectors are assessing the scarcity of drinking water and fodder.

Prof. John Kurakar