100 taluks declared drought-hit: Government seeks financial assistance from Centre
New Delhi, October 30: As the state has incurred Rs 16,662.48 crore worth loss following crops damage due to drought situation, the state government has appealed the centre to provide Rs 2,434 crore compensation under Natural Disaster Relief Funds (NDRF).
After submitting a proposal to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday, Revenue Minister R.V Deshpande and Agriculture Minister Shivashankar Reddy told reporters that crops worth Rs 15,294.37 crore grown in 26.18 lakh hectares of land in the state was damaged due to drought situation. Apart from this, horticulture crops worth Rs 1,368.11 crore grown in 1.94 lakh hectares were also damaged. In view of this, the centre should immediately send a team of officials to study the drought situation, they demanded.
If the state had received good monsoon rains, sowing process would have completed in 74.69 lakh hectares. But till September end, the sowing was over in just 63.36 lakh hectares. In view of the drought situation, 100 taluks in the state were declared as drought affected. Out of 3,611 tanks under Minor Irrigation department, only 53 per cent of the tanks have water. Currently, drinking water is being supplied through tankers in 159 villages in rural areas and 136 wards in urban areas. For supplying drinking water, the government has taken over 203 private bore wells, they said.
For the livestock, the government has kept 98.26 metric ton fodder ready and it would suffice for next four months. In order to supply fodder in coming days, the government has distributed 8.11 lakh fodder producing kits to the farmers who have irrigation facility. If the drought situation continued in the same pace, the government has planned to open gaushalas and fodder storage centres, Deshpande said.
In order to handle the drought situation, Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore was released from the NDRF and the state government respectively. Out of this amount, each drought-affected taluk was given Rs 50 lakh. Total 6.36 lakh families in drought affected taluks were given jobs, for which Rs 1042.93 crore was spent, Deshpande said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
