news details |
|
|
| Drought relief works yet to begin in earnest | | | Early Times Special
JAMMU, August26
Parts of the backward Kupwara district were hit by a hailstorm some days ago and the government responded in double quick time. Leaving formalities like assessment and surveys aside, it released Rs 5 crore immediately for providing relief to the affected people.
The Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, rushed to visit the area himself and this helped galvanise the administration. Relief was distributed among the affected families quickly even though correct assessment of damage etc is yet to be made.
Sources in the administration said that more relief is likely to be pumped in into Kupwara soon. The responsiveness of the government has acted as a healing balm for the citizens struck by the natural calamity, they added.
On the other hand, large areas of the state are facing a drought and the farmers are likely to suffer huge losses. Just as it has happened all across India and hundreds of districts have already been declared drought-hit, in varying degrees.
Most drought-hit areas lie in the Jammu region where irrigation facilities and permanent water sources are scarce unlike in the Kashmir valley. As such, the extent of damage likely in Jammu is 80 per cent in some areas. In contrast, in the Kashmir valley, the total loss to horticulturists is going to be approximately 20 per cent, according of official figures.
The extent of damage collectively suffered by the farmers of the state has been tentatively estimated at a little over Rs 500 crore. The Agriculture Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, has already visited New Delhi once to plead the state’s case with the authorities.
A systematic assessment of the crop losses is yet to begin in earnest. For correct assessment, the revenue and the agriculture ministries will have to be involved, senior officials said.
Since the budget for the year is yet to be passed, the government’s focus is entirely on the legislature session now underway. This is hampering crop damage assessment and planning of relief measures, they added.
Incidentally, the state government faces a perennial resource crunch and for drought relief also, it is looking towards the Central government. However, the Centre’s norms for drought relief are such that a lot of paperwork has to be done before allocation of funds. This is something that the state employees have often failed to do in the past.
This is one reason why J&K has often lagged behind in making use of the funds allocated by the Centre, senior state officials said. The Planning Commission will take a holistic view of the drought situation prevailing across the nation and then allocate funds to the state.
As of now, all the J&K government can do is to wait and watch but it can sure start collecting the field data across the state. The biggest problem in doing so is that clear guidelines to deal with such situations don’t exist and that hampers basic data collection, officials in the state agriculture ministry said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
