Maharashtra government may soon declare a drought in the state

It should come as no surprise that the government is now planning to declare a drought in the state with the monsoon falling short across all regions especially in Marathwada For the first time in nearly 100 years many farmers there have not even been able to sow the Rabi winter crop thanks to the regionrsquos worst dry spell in the period Marathwada has received just a third of the average rainfall until this part of the yearAlso read Maharashtra govt making every effort to help droughthit farmers says CM Devendra Fadnavisleaving a sour taste Fadnavis inspects damaged sugarcane crop at Malikpeth in Mohol Taluka of Solapur yesterday He is on a tour of droughthit areas in the stateContinuing his tour in droughthit Marathwada CM Devendra Fadnavis yesterday announced a series of measures to help farmers see boxAlso read Maharashtra FM rules out levying new taxes for droughthit MarathwadaMaharashtra has seen poor rainfall this year having received just over 50 per cent of the average amount of rain that is usually witnessed until this time of the year Marathwada however has the worst figures with just 240 mm rainfall so far On average the region which falls under the Aurangabad division gets about 719 mm by the first week of September This figure usually rises to 800 mm by the end of monsoonCM talks to farmers in Ahmednagar about the water crisis He has been touring droughthit areas in the state and yesterday announced measures to help farmers there PicPTIDue to a severe lack of water farmers have not even been able to sow Rabi winter crops in four to five districts The worst affected district is Latur followed by Parbhani Osmananabad Jalna Beed and Aurangabad districtsIn official records the Marathwada region falls under the Aurangabad divisionldquoAverage rain in the Marathwada region has been 240 mm this monsoon When we spoke to the elders in the villages they said this was the first time in the last 100 years that sowing hasnrsquot taken place Marathwada has been suffering from drought for the last four years but this is the worst yearrdquo said Atul Deulgaonkar an expert from Marathwada who has authored books on water and agricultureAlso Read Maharashtra CM takes donation from historysheeter tweets a photoMarathwada has been suffering from water scarcity since 2012 because of which the dams are dry as well However experts have said that this year has been particularly hard on farmers as the dry spell had first affected the crops sown in June Kharif Some farmers tried resowing but the rains ditched them yet again With the dry spell continuing there are fears that even those who have managed to sow the Rabi crop will not be able to save it The impact is already being witnessed in the mass migration of farmers to cities like Pune and Hyderabad where they find work as construction labourersAccording to Umakant Dangat Aurganabad divisional commissioner this is an unprecedented crisis ldquoWe are going through a very bad phase mdash it is the worst situation in the history of this region We have only seven per cent water left in the dams The crop yield kharif has dropped to about 20 to 25 per cent this year and that too in the Nanded and Hingoli districts which still have better irrigation facilities We are in the process of declaring drought in these areasrdquo he told midday adding that the government is already dependent on water tankersIn deep waterThe crisis is compounded by the presence of 70 sugar factories in the region Sugarcane farming and processing both utilise massive amounts of water and experts said this is the reason other crops are being deprived of water Even the water level has fallen to nearly 1200 feet below ground if it drops below 1000 feet it is considered a groundwater crisisAlmost all the groundwater is used for sugarcane factories The dams are dry and whatever water remains will be used for drinking not for irrigation Now the government has come down hard on deep bore wells but itrsquos too laterdquo said Pradeep Purandare renowned water expert warning that crops would continue to suffer until something was done about the sugarcane factories in the areaFood security hitApart from poor rainfall and dry dams that affect the Kharif crop in October Marathwada has also been facing hailstorms in February which spoils Rabi crops as well ldquoIn other words this is a disaster We are totally dependent on Ahmednagar for water We have no river no groundwater and at 15 barely any forest coverrdquo said Deulgaonkar adding that this had farreaching consequences such as a national food crisisIn the last two years the food import budget has gone up from Rs 11 lakh crore to Rs 25 lakh crore As long as we are importing food we cannot be a foodsecure countryrdquo Deulgaonkar addedCMO tweetsYesterday the chief ministerrsquos office tweeted measures to help droughthit farmers retweeted by CM FadnavisgtgtDetailed planning done for water distribution in villages State to use Railway wagons for water transportation CMgtgtState has decided to help students from farmer families by taking care of their fees even if it is a professional course CMgtgt State is doing every possible thing for drought hit districts we have planned employment for farm labours in all districts CM