9 lakh hectare agricultural land affected due to drought-like situation in Bengal

Sources in Nabanna said senior officials of the state agriculture department held a meeting in this regard on Monday. 

It may be mentioned that senior officials of the department had sought reports from their officials posted in all the districts to take a present stock of the situation when mainly four districts were passing through a “drought like situation”. Monday’s meeting held after the officials from all the districts had sent their report to the state secretariat. 

After going through the reports, the senior officials of the department had found that cultivation of crops on around 9 lakh hectares land in different parts of the state was affected. The most affected districts were Bankura, Purulia and Burdwan. 

Besides the three districts, some pockets in other districts including North 24-Parganas were also affected. 

It is learnt that the officials have also calculated that around Rs 10,000 is required to recover from the present situation. A report in this regard will be sent to the Centre. The top brass of the Agriculture department will be in constant touch with their officials in districts to get regular update on the situation.

The state agriculture department had been keeping a watch on the situation specially in Purulia for the past few months as there had been a considerable drop in rainfall. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also directed the Chief Secretary Basudeb Bandyopadhyay to take necessary steps to help the farmers in the affected areas. 

Departments including the Agriculture, Panchayat and Rural Development, Irrigation and Waterways departments had been keeping proper co-ordination to support the affected people.

It may be mentioned that the Panchayat and Rural Development department had supplied around 13 lakh pouches containing 500 ml water each as scarcity of drinking water in 40 blocks in Bankura, Purulia, Burdwan and West Midnapore had come up as a major problem. Money was also being sanctioned to repair tube wells and to take other necessary steps in the affected districts.

Distribution of seeds and fertiliser among farmers is a regular exercise of the state agriculture department. This year too Aman rice seeds were distributed among farmers in Burdwan and many other districts. With drought like situation prevailing in different parts of the state, directions have been given to the officials to expedite the process of distribution of seeds and fertiliser among the farmers.