The Maharashtra government has sent out a resolution that declares drought in 29,000 villages, most of them in Marathwada and Vidarbha. The government issued a corrigendum clarifying that wherever reference is made to a ‘drought-like situation‘, it would be read as ‘drought’. In the wake of acute water shortage in various parts of Maharashtra, the state government had informed the High Court that it would declare drought in over 29,000 villages in the state and all relief prescribed in the Drought Manual, 2009 would be provided.

On May 7, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested Rs 10,000 crore as relief for the parched state. Of this, Rs 7,500 crore was to be spent on completing irrigation projects in Marathwada and Vidarbha over the next three years, while the remaining would be used for projects in Western Maharashtra.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also recently sought increased funding several Centre schemes in the state. Fadnavis also said that the state government had chalked out a plan to tackle drought situation in Marathwada and Vidarbha, which includes creation of a “guaranteed irrigation” plan over the next 2-3 years.