Jharkhand: Recommendation made for declaring 158 blocks as drought hit

CM Hemant Soren directed the disaster management department to prepare a proposal to declare all 158 blocks as drought hit at the earliest, so that it could be placed for approval in the meeting of council of ministers.

Ranchi: The Jharkhand disaster management authority recommended declaring 158 blocks in 17 districts of the state as drought hit, an official said.

The recommendation was made during a meeting at the state secretariat, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, on Wednesday.

Soren directed the disaster management department to prepare a proposal to declare all 158 blocks as drought hit at the earliest, so that it could be placed for approval in the meeting of council of ministers.

He also asked officials concerned to send a proposal to the Centre in this regard for financial assistance.

Jharkhand had received 26 per cent deficient rainfall during the monsoon season last year. A deviation of over 19 per cent is considered as deficient rainfall, an official said.

The JMM-led government had in 2022, too, declared 226 out of the 260 blocks of the state as drought-affected, and decided to provide a cash relief of Rs 3,500 to each affected farmer family.

It had placed a demand for a financial package of Rs 9,682 crore to the Centre for the drought-hit blocks.

The central government, however, allotted Rs 502 crore as drought package, the official said.