Politics over drought is latest in BSP-Congress clash

Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday rebutted claims that the identification of drought-hit districts in the state was politically motivated and said the government was sensitive to interests of the people.

Rejecting Union Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Aditya Jain's allegation that identification of drought-hit district was politically motivated, the government said his statement was false and far from fact.

"Allegations levelled by Jain are false and far from truth. The state government is keeping a close watch of the situation arising out of low rainfall in the state and had sent a number of letters to the Centre in this regard," an official spokesman said in Lucknow.

He said that the government was sensitive towards the interests of the people.

"To safeguard the interests of the farmers, the Chief Minister had directed to amend provisions for declaring any area drought-hit, as a result if which 27 more districts were declared drought affected," he said.

He said that the government does not believe in politics on the issue of development and all the decisions were taken in a transparent and unbiased manner.

Earlier, the UP government declared 27 more districts as drought-hit, taking their total number to 47.

"In the interest of farmers, we have relaxed measures for declaring districts as drought-hit due to which 27 more districts are found to be affected by drought. With this the total number of drought-hit districts has gone up to 47," Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta.

He also said that on the directions of Chief Minister Mayawati districts which had received less than 40 per cent rainfall between June 1 to July 23 and where sowing of crops was less than 75 per cent had been declared drought-hit.

It was also decided to declare districts which received 40-60 per cent rainfall and where sowing of crops was less than 50 per cent as drought-hit, he said.

Thirteen districts -- Agra, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Faizabad, Meerut, Mahoba, Aligarh, Jyotibaphule Nagar, Balrampur, Etah, Rampur, Ghaziabad and Gautambuddha Nagar -- which received less than 40 per cent rainfall have been declared drought-hit, he said.

Similarly, 14 districts -- Banda, Mathura, Allahabad, Auraiya, Jalaun, Kanpur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Moradabad, Azamgarh, Siddharthnagar, Badaun, Sitapur and Firozabad -- received rainfall between 40-60 per cent have also been declared drought-hit, he added.

Gupta said that the state government had already declared 20 districts as drought-hit and added that realisation of all revenue dues pending on farmers has been postponed.

The districts which were declared drought-hit on Saturday were Mainpuri, Kanpur Dehat, Bareilly, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Raebareli, Fatehpur, Sultanpur, Hardoi, Basti, Kanshiram nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ballia, Unnao, Deoria, Mau, Ambedkar Nagar and Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras).