Kerala is reeling under dry weather conditions. In fact, the state is at present undergoing its worst drought conditions in a century.
A weak Southwest Monsoon is to be blamed for such condition. Moreover, the Northeast Monsoon was also delayed due to which the state failed to witness rains. At present also, rains have stayed away from Kerala, thereby forcing it to declare a drought condition.
As per the state government estimates, the drought has resulted in damaging a total of 30,353 hectares of agricultural land in the state. Monetary loss of Rs 225 crore has also been reported.
On Wednesday during the budget session of the assembly, Kerala revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan portrayed a gray picture of the drought condition in the state. He stated that as per the figures on January 17, only 44% water has remained in the state reservoirs.
The underground water, on the other hand, has also plummeted by 2-2.5 meters. The revenue minister stated that to tackle the drinking water problems, Rs 29.5 crore had been disbursed to the districts.
He further claimed that paddy in the region was the worst hit by drought with close to 26,499.42 hectares of acreage destroyed resulting in a loss of Rs 106 crore.
In addition to this, summers also seem to be approaching very soon and extremely dry weather conditions are prevailing on the top of it.
Image Credit: The New Indian Express
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