The government will give 1208 crore rupees to
drought-hit Maharashtra, farm minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday,
as the state struggles to provide drinking water to thousands of people.
The country's biggest sugar and pulses producer and second biggest
producer of cotton and soybean is reeling under the worst drought in
more than four decades, after receiving lower rainfall during the
monsoon season June to September 2012.
"There's shortage of drinking water. The affected area has many dams but
there was no rain in the catchment area," Pawar told reporters.
Nearly 12,000 villages in the state have been affected by drought and
the state government has deployed nearly 2,500 tanker trucks to supply
drinking water.
Maharashtra is the country's biggest economy accounting for more than a tenth of India's gross domestic product.
Shortage of fodder has been prompting farmers in the state to feed
cattle mature cane, but the lower sugar output in Maharashtra is
unlikely to pull down the world's biggest sugar consumer's total output
as the situation is better in the northern Uttar Pradesh state, the
second biggest sugar producer.
India's sugar output is seen at 24 million tonnes in 2013/14 year
starting from October 1, compared with 24.5 million tonnes this year, he
added.
RAJAT SINGH
PGDM 2nd sem
IIMT
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