Centre Apprised Of Drought Situation In Odisha: Revenue Minister

Bhubaneswar: Revenue minister Maheswar Mohanty on Thursday claimed that the Odisha government has apprised the Centre of the drought situation in the state.

“The state government, in a memorandum, has informed the Centre about the drought situation in the 70 blocks of nine districts and sought Rs 1534 crore relief assistance. The state government has decided to provide input subsidy to the affected farmers of the drought-hit areas, Mohanty told reporters here.

Asked about the statement of the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat that the state government has not informed the Centre about Central assistance for the drought situation in the state, he said the Union minister is not aware of the memorandum the state government has submitted as he has not updated himself about this.

The Union minister, while replying to a question of the BJD member Anubhav Mohanty had told the Rajya Sabha yesterday that the Odisha government has not informed about the Central assistance for the drought situation to the Centre.

“Though the Odisha government has announced drought in some parts of the state, it is yet to submit any memorandum to this effect to the Centre,” the Union minister had pointed out.