Relief measures for drought-prone areas

This comes after a review meeting called by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for all divisions.

With several districts in Pune revenue division Sangli and Satara in particular facing a drought,Pune Divisional Commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh on Monday listed the measures chalked out to meet the water scarcity. The measures include pressing in more water tankers. This comes after a review meeting called by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for all divisions.

Deshmukh,addressing a press meet,said that with Pune division seeing sparse rainfall during withdrawal of monsoon last year,the situation has become grave and the water table has gone below 3.75 metres in many areas. Last year,we had nearly 40-45 per cent water to take us through summer. This year,after a review,we realised there is only 20 per cent water, he said.

The division comprises Pune,Satara,Sangli,Solapur and Kolhapur districts. As many as 597 tankers have been pressed into service to pull the division through till the end of the month. We have allotted 64 tankers for Pune,142 for Satara,204 for Sangli,185 for Solapur and two for Kolhapur, revealed Deshmukh two days after Rahul Gandhi visited drought-prone villages in the division.

Deshmukh said arrangements have been made to provide water to nearly 522 drought-prone areas and 3,440 hamlets. The commissionerate has also given permission to dig 295 wells in the division. Works related to digging of wells,temporary water connections,repair of pipelines and wells have been carried out. The Divisional Commissioner said that around 4,244 works that cost the district administration Rs 14.40 crore have been carried out.

It is estimated that further repair works and more temporary arrangements for water will take up Rs 65 crore. A central team that paid a visit to the division recently had reviewed the situation. There are many proposals for borewells and the district administration is carrying out digging work,he said. However,the state Groundwater Survey and Development Agency has already given reports that in many areas there has hardly been any success,he said. The administration is also making special arrangements are also being made to supply water to sugar factories.

The prevailing droughtlike conditions has affected availability of fodder for cattle and to address the fodder-crunch,the administration has readied 77 depots to provide nearly 13,350.377 metric tonne fodder.

Besides,under the Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,they have readied 44,000 works that will employ around 47,000 workers.

Rural health scheme launch today

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Pune division has launched Gram Arogya Sanjeevani Programme for proper implementation of health programmes in the division. The programme that kicks off on Tuesday,the Maharashtra Day,aims at addressing major health issues. All primary healthcare centres will offer free health check-ups and follow-ups and cover all areas including obstetrics,gynaecology,paediatrics,ophthalmology,cardiology,ENT. Free spectacles will be given to those in need after check-ups under the programme. Divisional commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh said the programme will be reviewed after a year.

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