More than half of West Bengal is reeling under drought even as the state government on Monday declared 11 districts as drought-hit. Meanwhile, after declaring half of Jharkhand’s 24 districts as drought affected a fortnight ago, governor M.O.H. Farook on Monday declared the entire state as drought-hit following a recommendation from his advisory council in the face of growing demands from the state’s political parties.
West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta announced an aid package of Rs 50 crores to tackle the drought.
“Eleven districts — Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, Murshidabad, Hooghly, West Midnapore, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and Malda — have received 30 per cent less rainfall... The state government has decided to declare them drought-hit,” Dr Dasgupta said.
In Jharkhand, with the average rainfall received this year being 50 per cent less than normal, the drought is feared to cause a famine-like situation.