Ministers rushing to drought-hit Marathwada

Mumbai - Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed all ministers to visit three of the worst-hit districts in the backward region - Beed, Latur and Osmanabad.

 With the situation in drought-hit Marathwada turning precarious and acute water scarcity threatening millions of residents, all ministers and bureaucrats rushed to the region on Thursday.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed all ministers to visit three of the worst-hit districts in the backward region - Beed, Latur and Osmanabad. On Friday, he has called all of them to Latur, where they will brief him about the grave situation.
Next week, the budget session of the state assembly will begin here and the government expects fireworks with the opposition gunning for it. Opposition leaders have accused the state government of hosting mega events such as the Make in India exhibition in Mumbai last month, but ignoring the plight of millions of people in Marathwada.
The BJP, which heads the coalition government in Maharashtra, has been engaged in a battle of words with the opposition Congress, which accuses the government of ignoring farmers.
Earlier this week, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of the opposition and a Congress leader, undertook an extensive tour of Marathwada, meeting people affected by the drought. He has demanded a complete waiver of farm loans by the government.
The Congress claims that the state government woke up to the grim reality in Marathwada after Vikhe-Patil toured the region. But the BJP accuses the Congress of trying to hoodwink the public, as the state government had already planned for an extensive tour of Marathwada by the entire cabinet, much before Vikhe-Patil had visited it.
Marathwada lies in a rain-shadow region and precipitation is minimal every year.
However, the last two years of successive drought have devastated the region, with water levels in reservoirs plummeting to new lows.
According to the government, Jayakwadi, the biggest dam in the region, has a mere two per cent of water left. And this just on the eve of summer, and with at least four more months to go for the onset of the monsoon in the hinterlands of the state.
The average level in the region's dams is down to six per cent of capacity (as against 18 per cent last year at this time).
It is feared that the acute scarcity of water could lead to several tragedies. Marathwada has been dubbed as the 'farmer suicide capital' of India. Last year, Maharashtra saw 725 farmers taking their lives, most of them from Marathwada and Vidarbha.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com

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