Pune: While the State Government has declared drought in 42 per cent area of the State, activists say drought also needs to be declared in the tribal belt, which has been excluded.
Activist Ravi Talpe, who is also the Regional Head of Adivasi Front (BJP) submitted a letter to CM Fadnavis on Tuesday, requesting him to include the tribal belt in the drought-affected areas.
“While it is usually claimed that the tribal regions receive adequate rainfall, there are hardly any systems in place in these regions to store the water. While most of the dams are in the tribal belt, the water is used by others,” he said.
Drought has been declared in 151 talukas in 26 districts. However, the tribal areas are often ignored, due to which they do not get any compensation.
“During rainfall, the tribals usually take crops like varai (samo rice) or raggi, and after that they opt for wheat. However, lack of rainfall affects them too, and after rains, with no other means of irrigation available, they are forced to migrate. Nobody is speaking about this issue,” Talpe added.
While it is up to the Revenue Department to examine and declare drought in various regions, officials from the State’s Tribal Department have stated that now that the issue has been brought to their notice, they will try to scrutinise the situation.
