The Nagpur Division received 648.22 mm rainfall in July, which was 190 per cent above average
Nagpur: The Central team, which was on tour of the flood-affected areas in Nagpur Division, concluded its visit on Thursday with a review meeting held at Divisional Commissionerate in the city.
During the meeting, the officers informed the Central team that excessive rainfall had damaged crops in 4.77 lakh hectares area. Nagpur Division comprises six districts namely Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli. In total 62 tehsils in these districts, excessive rainfall damaged crops. This damage has affected as many as 5,25,759 farmers. The crops damaged include cotton, soybean, tur and other Kharif crops. More seriously, 5,435 hectares of fertile soil has been washed away from farms by floods.
The damage to agricultural crops is widespread especially in Chandrapur, Wardha, and Gadchiroli districts. Apart from the agricultural loss, excessive rainfall and resultant floods resulted in the loss of 73 human lives. Besides, the number of water supply schemes, roads, healthcare infrastructure etc has been pegged at 186 as per the report prepared by the administration. All this data was placed before the Central team during the meeting held on Thursday at Divisional Commissionerate.
Rajeev Sharma, Joint Secretary of National Intelligence Grid and head of the Central team, said that a detailed report based on the team’s visit and interaction would be prepared regarding damage to crops, houses, roads, irrigation projects etc. The report would be submitted to the Central Government, he added.
The Central team comprised Harish Umbarje, Director, Jal Shakti Department; Meena Hooda, Director, Ministry of Power; Manik Chandra Pandit, Director, Rural Development Department; Rupakdas Talukdar, Deputy Secretary, Finance Department; A L Waghmare, Director, Agriculture, Co-operation, and Farmers’ Welfare Department; Devendra Chapekar, Road Transport and Highways Department.
Prior to the meeting, the Central team visited various flood-affected areas in Nagpur Division and took first hand information of damage caused to property and agriculture. In the month of July, the average rainfall in Nagpur Division is 360.10 mm. However, this year, the Division received 648.22 mm rainfall, which was 190 per cent above average. Besides, for a period, there was incessant rainfall. Due to floods, many people living in villages on the banks of rivers were evacuated to safer places. The State Government has provided immediate aid to the affected families. Panchnama of loss of life and property as well as agriculture has been conducted.
Radhakrishnan B, officiating Divisional Commissioner, briefed the Central team about all these aspects during the meeting. He said that a report would be presented soon to the Government based on the panchnama conducted. Aseem Gupta, Principal Secretary, Relief and Rehabilitation Department, joined through video-conferencing. He said that the report regarding damage caused due to excessive rainfall and floods would be submitted to the Central Government. Not all the damage caused meets the set criteria for grant of aid, he pointed out. He urged the Central Government to make available aid immediately to farmers facing resowing, and also those affected due to erosion of fertile layers of soil in their farms.
District Collectors namely Vimala R (Nagpur), Ajay Gulhane (Chandrapur), Prerna Deshbhratar (Wardha), Sandeep Kadam (Bhandara), and Sanjay Meena (Gadchiroli); and Chief Executive Officers of different Zilla Parishads namely Yogesh Kumbhejkar (Nagpur), Dr Sachin Ombase (Wardha), Vinay Moon (Bhandara), Anil Patil (Gondia), Kumar Ashirwad (Gadchiroli), were present in the meeting.
