M A I N   N E W S

Advani tours drought-hit areas

AHMEDABAD, April 30 (PTI, UNI) — Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today visited the drought-affected areas of Patan and Surendranagar districts in Gujarat to take stock of the situation.

Mr Advani, who arrived here from New Delhi this morning, left for Patan by helicopter to assess the drought situation which has gripped parts of the state this year official sources said.

He met people in the affected areas and enquired about the government’s relief works, the sources added.

Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel today said his government had taken various steps to tackle the drought situation in Saurashtra, Kutch and some other parts of the state.

Addressing mediapersons at the collectorate office at Rajkot, the Chief Minister said the minimum labour charges for scarcity relief workers had been increased from Rs 34 to Rs 40 a day and, the government has decided to provide 10 kg of wheat every week to relief workers as advance against their labour charges to prevent starvation.

To feed cattle, the government would source fodder from Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Mr Patel said.

Earlier, the Chief Minister held meetings with districts collectors and senior government officials of the Saurashtra and Kutch regions to assess and review the drought situation.

But the large posse of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) jawans posted in and around the corridors of Rajkot Municipal Corporation spoke volumes of the grim water scenario in this district.

For the past month, SRPF jawans have been posted to protect the mayor, deputy mayor, corporators and officials of the Municipal Corporation from the ire of the people who have attempted to attack public functionaries for failing to provide adequate water to the city.

The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that an entire hall in the corporation building has been converted into a dormitory for housing SRPF jawans.

“The employees and corporators began to feel insecure after an engineer and other staff were assorted and hence the SRPF jawans have been posted,” the mayor said adding, “I tell the people that I am ready to come to the streets to launch agitation along with them to press for their demand. But violence cannot be the means”.

The three main sources of water in the region which include Aji dam, Niyari dam and Bhadar dam have completely dried up and water was being provided through an emergency water supply scheme wherein water is taken out of 120 tubewells in Wankaner area and brought to Rajkot and adjoining areas through major pipelines.

The Railway Ministry has received a communication from the Gujarat government for running six water trains daily from Sabarmati in Ahmedabad for transportation of one million litres of water every day and also 70 trains carrying fodder totalling about 90,000 tonnes per train.

The Ministry has already identified six trains for the purpose which would shortly leave for Ahmedabad. Drinking water will be filled at the Steel Authority of India site near Sabarmati, sources said.

The Gujarat Government has said that they would be in a position to receive these relief trains by May 10 onwards.

Sources said the trains carrying drinking water would run through the 250 km drought hit area. Fodder will be carried as and when necessary.

The Railways had also received a request from Rajasthan to run special trains carrying drinking water to Jodhpur and Ajmer on daily basis and two trains daily to Nasirabad and Vijaynagar in AP.

Similarly a request has been received for supply of drinking water to two districts of Orissa - Bishrampur and Behrampur, sources added.

In Jaipur Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sought the assistance of his counterparts in Delhi and Maharashtra in combating drought in his state.

In a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dixit, Mr Gehlot said the national capital region could help Rajasthan tackle the adversity by supplementing fodder with cash contribution to the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and supply of medicine an official spokesman said here today.

Mr Gehlot said 2.5 million tablets each of contramaxzole and paracetamol, 900,000 tablets of CPM (anti-allergy), 1.4 million capsules of tetracycline 250 mg, two million packets of ORS and 10,000 bottles of GNS/GDS could be supplied to fight the drought.

In a telephone conversation with Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Mr Gehlot requested him to dispatch special railway rakes carrying fodder for the designated stations in Rajasthan.

About 1000 tonnes of fodder arrived at Jodhpur by train to meet the requirement of the drought affected districts of western Rajasthan.

The consignment, including 40 wagons of fodder from Karnal provided by the Haryana Government, which arrived yesterday will be distributed in Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pokhran, Barmer, Phalodi, Makrana, Bikenar, Sirohi and Ajmer, an official release said today.

Arrangements have been made for the distribution of fodder in far flung villages of Jodhpur division on priority basis, the release said.

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government plans to spend Rs 1500 crore in the next eight years towards conservation of water in waste and dry lands, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said here today.

Launching the water conservation mission, Mr Naidu said the government initiated a ten year plan in December 1997, involving 10 million hectares of waste lands and dry lands to be brought under watershed treatment and already 2.7 million hectares had been brought under the treatment.

The purpose of the mission was to find a permanent solution to recurring drought conditions in the state, he added.

Water and power are the key to progress, he said adding that his government was making efforts to mobilise funds from the World Bank and the Dutch government for water conservation in this regard.