IMPHAL, Aug 31 - The Manipur Cabinet today gave its nod to declaring the �drought situation� in the State. According to an official statement, the Cabinet decision would enable the Manipur Government to seek relief from the Centre to meet the drought situation in the State.
�It is estimated that due to significant deficit in rainfall this year, drought has adversely affected crops across 70 blocks of the State,� the statement said. As per initial estimates, various villages of these blocks have crop failure ranging from 33 per cent to more than 50 per cent, on the basis of which they are categorised as moderately and severely affected by drought, the statement added.
Prior to the Cabinet meeting today, Chief Minister N Biren Singh chaired a high-level emergency meeting which was attended by ministers, MLAs, the Chief Secretary, the Vice Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, administrative secretaries of the Finance, Planning, Revenue and Agriculture departments, deputy commissioners, representatives of the ICAR, and other senior officials.
The Chief Minister reviewed the rainfall situation, crop conditions and reservoir status. It was informed that rainfall is more than 50 per cent deficit in the State, while reservoirs have more than 60 per cent deficit levels, the official statement added.
Based on these reports, the Cabinet meeting took the decision to declare the �drought situation� in Manipur, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Manipur State Remote Sensing Centre has been assessing the vegetative cover in the State based on satellite data. The DCs are making verification on the ground through the staff of Revenue and Agriculture departments.
The main cause for the drought in Manipur is deficit rainfall in the valley districts. Many blocks in the hills have also been affected in varying degrees.
After the declaration of drought, the Relief and Disaster Management Department will submit a memorandum to the Centre within a week, following which the Centre will depute an inter-ministerial team to visit the State to assess the situation.
