By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 13, 2015 : Once again the specter of drought is haunting Odisha due to scanty and erratic rainfall across the state.

Political parties in the state have began the blame game over the impending issue of tackling the drought in the coming months.

The BJP, which deputed a team headed by state president Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, said the drought situation in western Odisha was so alarming that farmers in the region were preparing to leave their home to work as migrant labourers in other states.

“The drought situation in western Odisha is so severe that the poor people are getting ready to migrate to Surat, Hyderabad, Raipur and other places to work as labourers. The labour agents have already contacted the affected farmers and given them advance to work in other cities in different sectors, including brick kiln factories. Unless the government takes appropriate measure before it is too late, the situation would worsen further,” said Dillip Kumar Mallick, BJP state executive committee member who was a part of the BJP delegation to drought-hit districts.

The Pradesh Congress Committee also echoed in similar voice and blamed the state government for the present situation.

“The present drought situation did not surface all on a sudden. The state government was well aware of the situation much before. It knew the state would receive deficient rainfall this rainy season. However, it did not put in place required mechanism to provide succor to the farmers,” said PCC president Prasad Harichandan.

Stating that the state government was quite insensitive to the plight of the farmers, – Mr Harichandan said chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his ministerial colleagues had completely forgotten the farmers’ community.
“Debt-ridden farmers are committing suicide. Many farmers are quitting their home to work as migrant labourers. The chief minister has not time to meet the bereaved family members of deceased farmers nor does he assure the affected farmers to take care of their interests against crop loss,” said Mr Harichandan.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has geared up its machinery as several districts in the state are facing drought-like situation due to deficient rainfall during June-September period. The state has received 19 per cent less rainfall until September 12, 2015.

The situation is much worse in several districts where the deficit is as high as 30 per cent. The districts which has received more than 30 per deficient rainfall include of Kalahandi (32%) Sonepur (30%), Bolangir (38%), Kondhmal (43 per cent) and Khurda (32).

Similarly, the districts experiencing between 20 and 30 per cent deficient rainfall include Nayagarh (29) Angul (23), Puri (27) Bargarh (20), Denkanal (22), Khurda (32), Koraput (25), Nabarangpur (23), Nayagarh (29), Puri (27), Rayagada (20). Nuapada in western Odisha has received (18) deficient rainfall.

According to Met office, the state should have ideally recorded 1043mm normal rainfall by September 13, 2015 where as it has got 848.4mm rainfall till date, registering a 19 per cent deficient.

Agriculture activities like transplantation of seedling have been badly affected as the soil continues to remain dry. This khariff season, about 20.52 lakh hectares of land out of the total 61.80 lakh hectares cultivable areas have been covered under cultivation.

The state government has drawn a contingency plan to tackle the situation.

According to the state agriculture director Dr Pramod Kumar Meherda the farmers have been advised to go for drought resistant varieties of paddy, pulses and oil seed crops.

According to government sources, at least 111 of the 314 blocks in the state have received less than the average rainfall so far.

The state government has formed a high-power committee to keep a watch on the drought like situation. The committee will review the position on weekly basis.