Drought declared in 40 tehsils, govt to now treat revenue circles as unit

In the second phase of announcement, rainfall deficiency will be the only criteria to declare drought unlike the first phase where the factors considered in the period between June to September include scarcity of rainfall, paucity of available groundwater, Remote Sensing criteria, vegetation index, moisture of soil, area under sowing and condition of crops.

According to sources within the Relief and Rehabilitation Department, the state government is presently working on analysing the data at circle level.

“Similar exercise was carried out in the 2018 drought. At that time, drought was declared in 151 tehsils initially. Later 268 circles were included in the list. At present, we have been receiving letters from several elected representatives and similar exercises will be repeated this year as well,” said an official.

The official mentioned that the department has received letters recommending to include over 500 circles in the list of drought affected areas.

In November 2018, the criteria to declare drought in circles was less than 75% of average rainfall and total rainfall amounting to less than 750 mm. Similar criteria will be applied in 2023 as well.

Opposition parties in the state had accused the state government of selectively choosing the 40 tehsils where drought was announced, saying that 95% of the tehsils belong to the assembly constituencies controlled by the ruling MLAs.

The state government has however refuted the claims. A statement from the state government said that Drought declared in 40 tehsils for Kharif season -2023 were as per the provisions of the ‘Drought Management Manual -2016.’

“While declaring the Drought, all the parameters are based on scientific factors and the survey of the drought has been carried out by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC), Nagpur with no human intervention,” said the government statement.