11 West Bengal districts identified as drought-hit
August 16th, 2010 - 7:18 pm ICT by IANSKolkata, Aug 16 (IANS) The West Bengal government Monday identified 11 districts of the state as drought hit.
Announcing the decision after a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the state secretariat Writers’ Buildings here, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said these districts have received 30 percent less rainfall this year.
The districts are Purulia, Bankura, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Hooghly, West Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Malda.
“We are giving total Rs.50 crore to these districts,” Dasgupta said. The fund is to be used for repairing and redigging of tubewells and arranging of pumpsets.
The chief minister is writing to union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to send a central team for assessing the situation in the 11 districts, he said.
Agriculture Minister Naren De said paddy production in the state was 100 lakh tonnes last year, but had gone down by 27 lakh tonnes this year, due to drought.
Apart from Bhattacharjee, Dasgupta and De, Food Minister Paresh Adhikary and Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar attended the meeting.
- 11 districts drought-hit, no food crisis: West Bengal (Lead) - Aug 16, 2010
- Central team to visit W. Bengal's drought-hit districts today - Sep 08, 2010
- Central team to visit W. Bengal's drought-hit districts - Sep 07, 2010
- 26 Bengal ministers lose in elections - May 14, 2011
- Three dead, Bengal rivers breach danger mark - Aug 10, 2011
- West Bengal hastens to save paddy in drought-hit areas - Aug 21, 2010
- Bengal heat toll rises to 45 (Lead) - Jun 06, 2012
- Eight Bengal districts may be declared drought-affected - Aug 06, 2010
- Farmer suicides spark Bengal political storm (West Bengal Newsletter) - Jan 22, 2012
- Poll panel officer meets Bengal bureaucrats, police officials - Feb 02, 2011
- Potato growers in Bengal stare at bleak future - Apr 04, 2010
- Voting for fourth phase ends, 84.55 percent polling - May 03, 2011
- Over 20,000 ponds dug in Bengal in last one year - Jun 27, 2012
- 126 couples in Bengal tie knot at mass wedding - Jul 01, 2012
- Bengal floods leave 15 dead, 1.9 million affected - Aug 14, 2011
Tags: agriculture minister, asim, bhattacharjee, birbhum, chief minister, crore, dasgupta, drought, finance minister, food minister, hooghly, midnapore, nadia, naren, naskar, paresh, rainfall, sharad pawar, state secretariat, west bengal government