17 districts in Gujarat declared drought-hit

The Ministry of Agriculture has declared 17 districts of Gujarat as drought-affected among the 85 districts in the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture has declared 17 districts of Gujarat as drought-affected among the 85 districts in the country. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani,Union Water Resources Minister Harish Ravat said in all 132 talukas of these 17 districts were declared as drought-affected.

These districts are Ahmedabad Vadodara,Bharuch,Anand,Kheda,Jamnagar,Amreli,Banashkantha,Bhavnagar,Gandhinagar,Junagadh,Kutch,Mehsana,Patan,Porbandar,Rajkot and Surendranagar,Nathwani said in an official release Wednesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture has declared these districts in the country as drought-affected during 2012-13 due to shortage of rain,he said. Elsewhere in the country,the Ministry has declared 26 districts in Karnataka,four districts in Kerala,16 in Maharashtra and 12 in Rajasthan as drought-hit,Nathwani added.

The Minister told Nathwani that water being the state subject,planning,funding and execution of water resources was in the purview of state. However,Nathwani quoted the minister as saying,Union government provided technical and financial assistance to state government under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP),Command Area Development and Water Management Programme (CAD & WMP),and Repair,Renovation and Restoration(RRR) of water bodies.

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