Severe drought hits 11 of 16 districts of Tamil Nadu

Potable water was being supplied in Sankari village in Salem district against ration cards - three pots per card. In certain pockets of Kanyakumari district water was being sold for, as much as Re 1 per pot. Unable to bear the severity of the drought, farmers of North Arcot district were selling their cattle, virtually for a song.And in Madras, Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) was expostulating on his grand plan to shift the capital of the state. If that was not like Nero riddling when Rome was burning, it at least showed the Government's callousness in the face of a severe drought that has hit 11 of the 16 districts of Tamil Nadu.Signs of an impending water crisis had appeared as early as the first week of January, when it was known that the rainfall in most parts of the state was 20 to 40 per cent below normal. Yet, the Government hadn't realised the seriousness of the situation till the first week of March.MGR frankly admitted during a tour of North Arcot district in the second week of March that the Government did not know the extent of the drought. He accused senior officials of having kept the Government in the dark.Blame: The officials were no doubt handy scapegoats, India Today, however, learnt that many of them had in fact, sent reports to the Government as early as the first week of January, but the concerned departments had not bothered to look at them.The ministers and top officials were then busy at Madurai attending the World Tamil Conference. There was also an additional problem of communication. With the mass dismissal of village officers some three months ago, the reports could not filter to the higher echelons.A dry irrigation tank in North ArcotThe Government was alarmed only in the first week of March when the matter was raised in the legislature and member after member highlighted the plight of the people. Only then did matters begin to move.The Government sanctioned about Rs 10 crore for relief work, sent an SOS to the Centre for more rigs to dig wells and asked for a greater allotment of food - six lakh tonnes of rice for the coming months and 10,000 tonnes of wheat per month. MGR and his cabinet colleagues soon fanned out into the districts to personally assess the situation.What they found in many places was indeed appalling. Little or no relief work was being done in many places. At one of the places in Pudukkottai district, while inspecting a silt clearance work, MGR asked an official when the work had started.The official claimed the work had been going on for about a week. But MGR was later informed that the work had actually started only that morning because of his impending visit. In North Arcot district MGR found that no relief work had been done in the last five months.People's Panels: A high-level committee has now been constituted to streamline the relief work. People's panels are being set up in the districts. But impartial observers wonder whether these measures have not come a little too late.The Government still does not have a complete and correct picture of the damage caused by the drought, except a preliminary estimate, MGR said that "over Rs 75 crore" would be required for relief work.MGR inspecting a bore wellTo what extent the Centre will come to the state's rescue will be known only after a team from Delhi tours the affected districts in April and submits its report.Of more immediate concern to the state government is its fast dwindling stock of food grains. None of the officials was prepared to say how much food stocks the Government has in store. In his budget speech. State Finance Minister V.R. Nedunchezhian diplomatically glossed over this fact. The reason, as one source said, was that "we do not want to create a scare".Obviously, the stock position is at a precariously low level - just two lakh tonnes of rice according to reliable sources. With the withdrawal rate from the public distribution system soaring to nearly 50,000 tonnes a month, this stock would not last even two months.One reason for the rock-bottom stock position was the export last year of 50,000 tonnes of rice from the state government's buffer at the instance of the Centre. There are also allegations that the state authorities did not lift the entire monthly allotments made by the FCI for the state public distribution system.For instance, in December and January, the FCI allotment was 50,000 tonnes each, but the state government lifted only about 4,800 tonnes and 26,600 tonnes, respectively. While the FCI sources blame "state Government constraints", state government sources allege that "the allotment was only on paper and the actual quantity never reached the state because of transport bottle-necks".Production Decline: Food production in the state, which is marginally surplus even at the best of times, has been severly hit by the drought. Against an estimated 65 lakh tonnes of rice, the actual production is not expected to be more than 50 lakh tonnes against the annual requirement of roughly 60 lakh tonnes.Because of the drought and the levy (under which the wholesalers have to sell part of their procurement to the Government at a price below the market rate) the retail price of rice has started climbing up in several parts of the state. As a result a further drag on the public distribution system is feared in the coming months and unless the Centre comes to the state's rescue, the food situation is likely to turn critical.Already, there are indications that the Centre has taken cognisance of the matter. The Centre, it is learnt, has issued an order to the FCI to despatch, until further orders, 65,000 tonnes of rice to the state every month irrespective of the cost involved.With such a timely response, the state may tide over the crisis. If not, the long hot summer ahead will be the hottest ever for the AIADMK Government since it came to power in 1977 and, of course, for the people as well.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 23, 2013 11:36 IST--- ENDS ---

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Severe drought hits 11 of 16 districts of Tamil Nadu

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