All eight Gondia talukas declared drought-hit in state order, farmers hope for relief

There is news of relief for farmers of Gondia district, who have been battling drought. In an order issued on 14 October 2026, the Maharashtra government has declared 305 talukas in the state drought-hit. All eight talukas of Gondia district are among them.

Rainfall was deficient in the kharif season of 2026, and there was also a long gap between spells. For this reason, only Tirora taluka of the district was initially placed on the drought list. The other seven talukas were left out at the time. Following the 14 October order, Gondia, Goregaon, Amgaon, Salekasa, Deori, Arjuni Morgaon and Sadak Arjuni have also been added to the list.

With this, all eight talukas of the district now fall under Trigger 1 and Trigger 2. Trigger 1 was initially invoked in view of drought conditions in 265 talukas of the state, and the district had only one taluka in it. Later, 19 talukas of the state were brought under Trigger 2. The government has now declared drought conditions in 305 talukas.

The decision is said to follow a demand by MLA Vinod Agrawal. He had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that all talukas of Gondia district should be declared drought-hit and that farmers in distress should be given financial relief. Chief Minister Fadnavis had taken immediate note of the demand and directed the officials concerned to examine it.

According to the government order, several measures will be taken in the affected areas. These include relief in land revenue recovery, relief in recovery of crop loans, waiver of electricity bills for agricultural pumps, waiver of examination fees for students, availability of work under the Employment Guarantee Scheme and arrangements for drinking water.

The government has applied these concessions as a special case for drought-hit talukas under Trigger 1 and Trigger 2. Among them, the key ones are relief in land revenue, restructuring of crop loans and a halt on recovery of farm-related loans. Relief will also be given on current electricity bills for agricultural pumps.

The order directs district collectors to have the crop-loss panchnama carried out immediately and to send the complete proposal to the government through the agriculture department. Farmers are now waiting to see that these measures are properly implemented and that help reaches eligible farmers.