Chhattisgarh government has provided drinking water and foodgrains to each village besides giving over Rs 1,160 crore to more than 16 lakh farmers as part of drought mitigation efforts, Chief Minister Raman Singh told a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.
At the meeting here, Singh gave a presentation on immediate and long-term strategies prepared by his government to deal with the drought situation.
He said that Chhattisgarh has become the first state to formulate schemes at district level to deal with water scarcity and drought situation.
The drought relief measures initiated in the state include provision of drinking water and foodgrains in each village, a statement issued by Prime Minister's Office said.
"The Chief Minister said that one quintal of rice has been kept with each Panchayat, to ensure that no one starves in the villages," it said.
Singh said due to the state government's employment generating schemes, no one in Chhattisgarh has migrated even in drought situation, according to a press release issued by the state government.
He said his state has set a target of getting over 15 lakh farmers insured under the 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' by the end of this year.
The Prime Minister appreciated preparatory work done by the state for 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana'. He said other states can also study this as a model, the PMO said.
Elaborating on the measures taken by the state government to tackle drought situation, the Chief Minister said that 10 over lakh farmers have been given assistance of Rs 502 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
He said that over 6 lakh 30 thousand farmers have been given Rs 658 crore under National Agriculture Insurance Scheme.
The Chief Minister said Chhattisgarh receives an average
of 1,200 mm rainfall every year but last year due to weak monsoon it got just 1,000 mm rains, resulting in drought situation in the state for the first time in past 12 years.
He said that the government has declared 117 of over 150 tehsils as drought affected and all measures to provide relief to farmers and villagers have been taken.
The state has set a target of digging more than 53,000 ponds in 2016-17 for conserving ground water, Singh said, adding water ATM facilities have been started in a phased-wise manner in urban areas of the state.
The Chief Minister mentioned the water conservation measures initiated by the state. These include desilting of 8,055 water bodies and farm ponds, construction of 44,181 new farm ponds, and construction of 9,851 ground water recharge structures.
He said that by the end of March 2017 six barrages will be made on Mahanadi river to facilitate additional irrigation in 3,149 hectare. It will also generate Rs 200 crore revenue for the state government.
An amount of Rs 835.695 crore has been released to the state under the NDRF. This is in addition to Rs 249.725 crore released as central share of SDRF for 2015-16 to the state. A further amount of Rs 94.875 crore has been released as first instalment of SDRF for 2016-17.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh, Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Aman Kumar Singh were also present at the meeting.
