State declared drought-hit

Thiruvananthapuram: Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan on Monday declared the State as drought-hit.

"While there was a shortage of 34 percent in Southwest monsoon in the state, the shortage was 69 per cent in the case of Northeast monsoon,” the minister said in the Assembly while replying to an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition.

“Even if the state receives heavy rains in the months of November and December, it will have to face severe drought," he said.

There has been a sharp decrease of rainfall (34%) during the south-west monsoon, according to figures released by the Indian Meteorological Department.

From June 1 this year to September 30, Kerala received 1352.3 mm rains against the normal rainfall of 2039.7 mm.

There has been no rain in October and if this situation continues, there will be drought-like situation, IMD, Thiruvananthapuram Director S Sudevan, said.

“If the North East Monsoon fails then there will be problems in different sectors-- Agriculture, Power etc”, he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has also said that the state was heading for a “severe” drought as Kerala had received deficient rains in the south-west monsoon.

Though the north-east monsoon was yet to set in, the state had not received pre-monsoon showers, he said.

“A huge danger is lurking in the state in the form of drought as the south west monsoon was deficient”, Vijayan had said at a function yesterday.

“If this situation continues, the state is heading for a severe drought. We need to take precautions,” he had said.

To tackle the situation, the government was also keen to encourage rain water harvesting, he said.

There has been an average reduction of 22 per cent water in the state’s dams when compared to the water storage in September last year.

The state was also gearing up to take measures to tackle scarcity of drinking water which is likely to be faced by the state due to deficient monsoon, according to Water Resources Minister Mathew P Thomas.

The government also has plans to rejuvenate at least 10,000 private temple ponds of the total 40,000 in the state.

The Chief Minister had convened a high level meeting on Oct 13 to work out plans to meet the impending drought situation.

Kerala is now pinning all hopes on the north east monsoon which is yet to set in, he said.