According to the latest data provided by the Union Agriculture Ministry, the states are still sitting on Rs 1,311.14 crore. The amount was allocated to 10 drought-prone states for the year 2015-16.
“There is no dearth of funds, but definitely there is a lack of commitment by states to address the drought situation. At present, states have Rs 1,775.47 crore with them. UP, which faces acute water shortage, has an utilised Rs 416.46 crore, while Maharashtra has Rs 390.83 crore unused,” said Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
Karnataka is yet to utilise Rs 187.60 crore, while Madhya Pradesh has not used Rs 127.14 crore to address water supply problems, says the ministry’s financial assistance report.
According to the report, the present NDA government has given Rs 84,010 crore to states for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
A senior ministry official said not only this, in 2016-17, Rs 2,551 crore has been allotted to 10 drought-hit states from the SDRF head, which can also be used for strengthening water supply resources, developing animal shelters and providing fodder to animals.
Blaming the states for not acting in advance, Singh said, “The government has done and is doing everything possible to address the drought situation. It is the topmost priority of NDA government.”
Attacking the UPA government for not paying attention to the situation, Singh said, “Before the NDA government came to power, only Rs 13,762 crore was given to drought-prone states against the total demand of Rs 1 lakh crore from 2010-11 to 2013-2014. If the then UPA government had taken the matter seriously, the situation would not have turned like this.”
Maharashtra, which has been declared drought-hit, had demanded Rs 10,582 crore from the NDRF for the year 2011-12 to 2013-14, but was allocated just Rs 2,926 crore, while the NDA government has given Rs 5,011 crore for 2014-15 to 2015-16 against the total demand of Rs 10,015 crore.
The Centre has granted Rs 2.263 crore to Karnataka, where Congress is the ruling party, against the total demand of Rs 4,654 crore for the year 2015-16; while the Congress-headed
UPA government had given only Rs 995 crore against the demand of Rs 13,872 crore during 2011-12 and 2012-13, the report stated.