Govt to give foodgrain as fresh relief to nine states

The Centre today announced 19.39 lakh tonnes foodgrains as fresh drought relief to nine states. In a meeting of the taskforce on drought headed by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, it was decided they would examine a proposal for revising norms for relief measures.

Reports of the central teams, which recently visited drought-hit states, would also be scrutinised thoroughly in the next meeting of the taskforce.

As per existing norms, Andhra Pradesh would get 3.18 lakh tonnes of foodgrains while 1.65 lakh tonnes would be given to Karnataka, 1.15 lakh tonnes to Maharashtra, 0.93 lakh tonnes to Chhattisgarh and 0.18 lakh tonnes to MP for the next three months.

Similarly, Tamil Nadu would be given 3.5 lakh tonnes of foodgrains during April-June, while for the first time Gujarat was given 1.48 lakh tonnes, Orissa 4.44 lakh tonnes and Kerala 0.42 lakh tonnes of foodgrains.