Pawar flags drought, says state not serious; 10,000 villages need tanker supply

NCP founder Sharad Pawar expressed concern over water scarcity in 10,000 Maharashtra villages. He proposed measures for relief, urging govt action.

Mumbai: Saying that 10,000 villages in Maharashtra still require water to be provided through tankers, NCP founder Sharad Pawar on Friday said he was concerned the government was not taking sufficient measures and sought immediate action to provide relief to drought-affected areas.

NCP founder Sharad Pawar. (ANI)

Pawar also proposed several immediate to-do items for the government. They were: restructuring of crop loan; freeze on loan recovery at some places; Centre’s intervention where insurance companies are not paying insurance to farmers; concession in power bills; no disconnection of power supply in case of non-payment of bills; relaxing norms for the 100-day jobs scheme so everyone can avail benefits; and waiving off exam fees of students, among others. The veteran leader said his party doesn’t want to do politics with drought but the chief minister should show that he is taking things seriously through action.

As per the data released by the government on Friday, 2,973 villages and 7,671 hamlets have no drinking water and 3,692 tankers have been deployed to provide water to them. Last year, on May 15, 334 villages and 774 hamlets were provided drinking water using 245 tankers.

On Thursday, chief minister Eknath Shinde held a review meeting to discuss relief measures in Sambhajinagar for which only two guardian ministers were present. The state agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde was absent. State Congress chief Nana Patole criticised this saying the absence of five guarding ministers at the meeting showed a lack of seriousness on the part of the government.

After this was pointed out, Pawar responded, “The chief minister should take cognisance of the non-seriousness shown by his ministers and it should be seen in his actions.”

“If the agriculture minister was also not present in the review meeting then it shows lack of seriousness because his district (Beed) is on the list of one of the most affected districts. It also shows how seriously they are looking at this calamity,” the former union agriculture minister.

He cautioned the government saying that his party is trying to make them aware of the grave situation. If, even after this, they don’t take cognisance then the opposition has other options to make its point.

Pawar said many dams do not have potable water. “We are in May and this situation is likely to continue till July end. This is because monsoon will start from next month but the dams will start filling only by July end,” Pawar said, suggesting the government should convene a meeting of elected representatives from the affected areas to help resolve the problem.

Government data indicates that, overall, all the dams together have only 23.63% water left at present against 33.59% last year this date. Marathwada has the lowest at 9.55%, Pune region 17.59%, Nashik 25.74%, Konkan 37.11%, Nagpur 38.83% and Amravati region has 39.94% water in the dams.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government is taking the required steps and the drought should not be politicised. “I believe that Sharad Pawar and other opposition leaders have become too negative. I am saying this because we arranged water tankers for the affected villages and took required decisions efficiently despite the election code of conduct being in place,” Fadnavis said and added that the government will have to continue these arrangements for the next month.

He further stressed that CM Shinde himself took a review meeting on Thursday and the government is serious, adding they are open to suggestions from the veteran leader.