West Bengal govt likely to declare drought soon

May 16, 2016 10:29

With almost no rain in the last two months and temperature hovering near 50 degrees Celsius in many districts of West Bengal, the state government is taking stock of the situation there before declaring them drought-hit.

The situation in the several districts, especially Purulia, West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan, is "pretty bad", state Agriculture minister Purnendu Basu said.

"Crops are damaged because of no rainfall and water bodies have dried up resulting in massive water crisis in these four districts. We have sought reports from the concerned departments before declaring which districts are drought-hit. We will take a decision by next week," Basu said.

According to him, the DMO's report on the situation in each of the 19 districts has been sought. While the report of Purulia district is complete, compilation in other districts is on and will be over in another couple of days.

The Supreme Court last week criticised the role of few state governments for their "ostrich-like attitude" in declaring drought despite having a rainfall deficit.

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