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A week after 3,919 villages in 10 districts of Gujarat were declared scarcity-hit,the state government on Thursday announced relief measures that include opening fodder depots in these areas,giving fodder aid to pastoralists and allotting land in 1-km radius of Narmada canal to NGOs to cultivate fodder.
The cabinet subcommittee on scarcity,which comprises Revenue Minister Anandi Patel,Finance Minister Nitin Patel and Agriculture Minister Babu Bokhiria among others,said all collectorates had been asked to start relief work immediately and give daily updates.
Nitin Patel said grass depots to be opened every 15 km in the affected areas would provide grass at a nominal rate of Rs 2 per kg. Besides,cattle houses will Rs 25 per cattle per day from the government.
To maintain fodder supply till May and June,the government will give input subsidy to farmers to grow grass till April 30. Makeshift water-storage facilities will be made available in cities of Junagadh,Amreli and Bhavnagar,besides other affected areas where water supply had been hampered for lack of infrastructure.
On March 26,Anandi Patel had told the state Assembly that 939 villages were scarcity-hit and nearly 2979 were partially affected by scarcity in 10 districts of the state.
The Union government,however,had declared 17 districts in Gujarat as drought-hit and allocated Rs 864.71 crore for relief. In addition,the state government had allocated over Rs 1200 crore for relief for financial year 2013-2014.
The scarcity-hit districts,according to the state government,are Kutch,Patan,Banaskantha,Ahmedabad,Rajkot,Jamnagar,Junagadh,Porbandar,Amreli and Bhavnagar.
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