Maharashtra needs separate department for drought relief: ORF

MUMBAI: Maharashtra needs an integrated drought relief policy and a separate department if it is serious about tackling the water scarcity issue, Observer Research Foundation Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni has said.

"Maharashtra is reeling under the darkness of drought. This is more specific to Marathwada which has become the hotbed of distressed farmers dealing with the burgeoning water scarcity, unpredictable rains and cyclical crop failures," Kulkarni told reporters after presenting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis a report at the Secretariat here yesterday on drought in Marathwada.

"All this has led to the collapse of the existing economic and social structure of the region. Several reasons and corresponding solutions for tackling the drought have been discussed year after year by successive governments, but mostly in isolation," he said.

The need for this policy and a holistic approach has been brought out in the research report compiled by the Observer Research Foundation ( ORF) Mumbai.

The ORF Mumbai team was invited to present their findings and recommendations, from the report, to Collectors of all drought-hit districts in the state.

"If we study the issue of drought in depth, it is observed that a parallel economy has emerged in the rural areas," Kulkarni said.

From manufacturing water pouches, to running tanker mafias, indulging in power theft, illegal transportation, money-making godmen, sand-mafia and even agents for government scheme implementations, every small village has these elements. No scheme or project will be successful until these links are destroyed, he opined.

"All these observations have led us to believe that there is a pressing need for an integrated drought relief policy. To implement this policy, the Maharashtra government needs to form a separate Drought Relief Department on the lines of a Climate Change Department that was established by the central government," he said.

Kulkarni said this will ensure that departments do not pass the buck anymore and all the issues are controlled through a single authority.

This concept is not new to Maharashtra, and was brought in by Shahu Maharaj in the early 1900's. He had appointed a separate minister Bhaskarrao Jadhav to head an exclusive drought relief department, he revealed.