Drought hits all of Vidarbha, 265 tehsils declared drought-affected, all 14 in Nagpur

Maharashtra has recorded deficient rainfall this year, and the impact is now visible in official data. The state government has placed 265 tehsils on the list of drought or drought-like conditions. This includes all 14 tehsils of Nagpur district, meaning the entire district has come under the grip of drought. Nagpur has so far recorded only 64.1 percent of average rainfall.

The panchnama process to assess crop damage has begun. Tehsils have been placed on the drought list based on rainfall data recorded so far.

Nagpur Rural, Kamptee, Saoner, Parseoni, Mouda, Bhiwapur, Kalmeshwar, Katol, Ramtek, Hingna, Umred, Kuhi and Narkhed, besides Nagpur city itself, have all recorded below-average rainfall. As soon as the drought was declared, District Collector Kumar Ashirwad tightened restrictions on leave for officials of the concerned departments and barred them from leaving their headquarters.

According to the order, all district and tehsil level officials of the revenue, agriculture, rural development, urban development and land records departments must remain at their headquarters and give top priority to work related to drought relief, crop inspection, loan restructuring and farmer assistance. Leaving headquarters without prior permission is now strictly prohibited.

Across Vidarbha, drought has been declared in 95 tehsils, including 39 in the Nagpur division and 56 in the Amravati division. Of these, 14 are in Nagpur district, 7 in Wardha, 3 in Bhandara, 1 in Gondia, 12 in Chandrapur and 2 in Gadchiroli district. In the Amravati division, 14 tehsils in Amravati, 13 in Buldhana, 7 in Akola, 6 in Washim and 16 in Yavatmal have been declared drought-hit.

Sowing of cotton, soybean, paddy, tur and other crops had reached 94.74 percent in Nagpur district, but with no rain the standing crop is now drying up in the fields. The target for sowing in the district this kharif season was 4,69,403 hectares, of which sowing was completed on 4,44,723 hectares. This includes 2,20,908 hectares under cotton and 72,536 hectares under soybean, while paddy was sown on 95,031 hectares and tur on 56,993 hectares. The remaining crops were sown on 96,953 hectares. The extent of crop loss will only be known once the panchnama process is complete, and officials have been directed to submit that report soon.

Several relief measures have been immediately implemented in the drought-hit tehsils. These include exemption from land revenue, restructuring of crop loans, a halt on recovery of agricultural loans, exemption in the running electricity bills of agricultural pumps with a capacity of more than 7.5 horsepower, and waiver of examination fees for students. Orders have also been issued to start as much work as possible under MGNREGA, supply water through tankers where needed, maintain the availability of foodgrain, arrange fodder for animals, and begin water conservation works. Financial assistance for crop losses to affected farmers will be announced separately under the prescribed process.