Beed, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Ajit Pawar on Saturday reviewed the severe drought conditions in Beed district, and directed the district administration to execute relief measures on a war footing.
The state government has declared 305 out of the total 358 talukas as drought-hit.
MLAs Prakash Solanke and Dhananjay Munde, Collector Vivek Johnson, Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Jithin Rahman, Superintendent of Police Navneet Kanwat and other officials took part in the meeting chaired by Pawar, who is also the guardian minister of Beed. To counter imminent fodder shortages, Pawar asked the administration to deploy forward planning by training farmers in silage, hydroponics, and azolla cultivation. She directed that employment guarantee works under government schemes be integrated directly with water conservation projects to provide guaranteed local livelihoods and prevent distress migration from rural belts. Given the crisis, the guardian minister appealed to citizens to practice restraint by curbing non-essential expenditures on weddings and birthdays, encouraging mass marriage ceremonies instead. “The state government and administration stand firmly behind our citizens in this hour of crisis.
We are operating at peak capacity across all fronts to ensure comprehensive relief and pull our farming community safely through this natural calamity,” Pawar said.
