State faces drought, minister on own trip

He recalls how a similar yagna in 1991, when he was agriculture minister of the undivided Madhya Pradesh, had yielded rains. ‘‘I am optimistic about the yagna. All the dry areas will receive heavy rain before I return from my trip.’’

During the 15-day trip, Kanwar will visit Australia , UK and three other European countries, and pick up marketing tips. He will also study the marketing infrastructure there and ‘‘we will try to implement them here’’.

The minister plans to take along State Agriculture Production Commissioner P. Raghavan on the trip. If Raghavan accompanies the minister, the only senior official left to handle the department’s affairs would be H.L. Prajapati, who was recently appointed Director Agriculture-cum-Secretary Agriculture.

Apparently worried about the preparedness of the department in the absence of the minister and the department’s top bureaucrat, Chief Minister Raman Singh, who had himself cleared the trip, today summoned top officials to get a feedback about the same.

‘‘The Chief Minister suggested that we collect reports about the adverse impact of the deficient rainfall up to the block level and then keep a contingency plan ready,’’ Raghavan said after the meeting.