MINISTER OF STATE FOR DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)
(a) to (c) The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) releases its first predictions for Southwest Monsoon in the month of April every year. The Ministry takes immediate steps to tackle the drought like situation and scarcity of drinking water arising out of defi- cient monsoon if there is a forecast regarding the same by IMD as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for responding to Natural Disasters in Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation. The States are requ- ested to prepare contingency plan as per the SOP and execute the same.
In case of drought, Government of India also deputes an Inter-Ministerial Central Team, and based on its report, the High level Committee(HLC) headed by Union Home Minister, decides the financial assis- tance to be provided under Calamities sub-component of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). Under NRDWP, 2% of the total allocation is earmarked and set apart for meeting drinking water needs of the rural areas in the wake of natural disasters which inter alia include droughts. Mini- stry of Drinking Water and Sanitation releases funds to drought affected States only on the reco- mmendation of HLC. The details of funds provided under 2% Calamity components of NRDWP for drought affected States during the last three years are as under:-
(Rs. in Crore) Sr. Name of Fin. Year Fin. Year Fin. Year No. the State 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
1 Haryana 0.00 0.00 5.05 2 Karnataka 38.20 0.00 9.00 3 Rajasthan 11.00 0.00 0.00 4 Tamil Nadu 0.00 31.00 0.00 5 Uttar Pradesh 0.00 0.00 44.00 6 Maharashtra 15.00 0.00 0.00 Total 64.20 31.00 58.05
The State Government of Maharashtra has reported that to mitigate the scarcity of drinking water in the State , Scarcity Action Plan for the year 2014-15 has been prepared in which 45905 number of measures have been proposed in 28398 villages and 10096 hamlets. The measures include digging of new bore wells, acquire wells, deepening of wells/sludge removal, temporary pipe water supply scheme, pipe water supply schemes special repairs, bore wells repairs and water supply by tankers. At present, 1234 villages and 1471 habitations in the state have been supplied water by 1576 tankers.
The State Government of Jharkhand has not reported about the scarcity of drinking water in the State due to drought.
Moreover , the States can utilize the flexi fund which is 10% of the allocation to the States to mitigate the drinking water problem in rural areas in case of drought.
