Poor rain raises fears of drought-like situation in MP, Chouhan chairs emergency meeting

Poor rainfall during August has raised worries of a possible drought-like situation across Madhya Pradesh as 26 of the state's 52 districts have received around 20 per cent deficient rain, and nine, including capital Bhopal, around 30 per cent, according IMD reports.

The situation prompted Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to call an emergency meeting of senior officials late on Sunday and issue directions to chalk out a plan to combat the possible drought threat looming in the state.

During the meeting, Chouhan said that due to poor rainfall, farmers may face tough situation in coming days as their crops have been damaged.

"We have to be prepared to combat this possible drought. We have to take steps to protect our farmers," he told officials.

The officials apprised the Chief Minister of about the situation of dams and other water resources in Madhya Pradesh.

Chouhan also said demand of electricity has increased by manifold and has directed the officials to provide water for irrigation.

"Till now the dams of the state have not been filled due to the rains. The demand for electricity is increasing, efforts are being made to fix all the arrangements. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that everything goes well," he added.

According to India Meteorological Department in Bhopal, the entire state as on September 3 has reported 18 percent below normal rain.

As many as 47 out of districts have reported below normal rains, ranging between 2 per cent below normal in Anuppur and 46 per cent below normal in Satna district – both in the Vindhya region.

The IMD report suggested very serious position in at least 29 districts, spanning from Sehore and Vidisha (21 per cent) in central MP and Satna, Mandsaur and Ashok Nagar (40 per cent to 46 per cent below normal) in Vindhya, west MP and Gwalior-Chambal regions, respectively.

While 17 of the 29 worst hit districts have reported 21 per cent to 28 per cent below normal rain, between June 1 and September 3, at least eight districts have recorded 30 per cent to 39 per cent below normal rain, while three other districts have reported over 40 per cent below normal rain in the same period.

In western part of the state such as Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ujjain, Ratlam, Barwani and Khargone, which form the main soybean and cotton cash crop cultivating areas of the state, farmers have been resorting to bizarre rituals, like feeding gulab jamuns to donkey, village sarpanches riding a donkey and donkeys ploughing the parched fields to propitiate the rain gods.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Kamal Nath has expressed his concern over possible drought-like situation in Madhya Pradesh and demanded prompt action from the government.

He demanded from the state government that the farmers should be paid immediate compensation to tide over the situation. "It is a matter of worry that due to deficit rainfall, crops like soybean and maize have been damaged in Neemuch and other parts of the state, but the state government is not paying attention to the situation. This area of the state is agriculture-based and an impact on the economic condition of the farmers will adversely impact the economic activities in the entire region and the state," he added.