Relief package for State’s no-water areas

The decisions taken at the meeting included increasing the financial powers of collectors from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and for the divisional revenue commissioner from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh; waiving the requirement of ten per cent contribution by local citizens for undertaking public works from the funds at the disposal of MLAs and MPs; increasing the upper limit on expenditure on paving roads through the EGS from 30 per cent to 50 per cent; putting off the recovery of government revenue from farmers; and not disconnecting power supply of defaulting farmers.

The relief measures include revamping of water supply schemes in Dhule, Shahada, Chalisagaon, Jalgaon and Nandurbar, digging of wells, drilling borewells and undertaking public works under the EGS. Deshmukh said that officials had been asked to conduct a fresh survey in the five districts of north Maharashtra (Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar) and submit a report within a week. He said that action would be taken against lethargic officials. He further said that the Maharashtra Government had decided to spend about Rs 2,900 crore on water supply schemes in the scarcity-prone areas of the State till March 2001.

According to officials figures, 844 villages from Nashik district, 343 from Dhule, 442 from Nandurbar, 264 from Jalgaon and 338 from Ahmednagar have been affected by insufficient rains and the crop yeild in such villages has been less than 50 per cent of the normal.