Drought looms large over Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Aug 02 (UNI) Orissa was heading for a possible drought like situation in at least eleven of the total 30 districts.

Orissa Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal said a serious situation will arise in all these 11 districts if it did not rain within the next seven days.

The Minister said this after a meeting held under his chairmanship to review the situation.

Official sources said the state received 20 per cent less rainfall than the normal in July.

The state received 260.1 mm of rainfall against the normal rainfall of 328.9 mm thereby affecting the progress of agricultural activities in the districts.

While 19 districts received rainfall more than normal, eleven districts such as Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Deogarh, Kendrapara, Khurda, Anugul, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Malkangiri received 16 to 50 per cent rainfall during July.

Jagatsinghpur and Puri district were the worst affected with 30 to 41 per cent less rain than the normal followed by Deogarha, Kendrapara and Khurda with a deviation of 20 to 30 per cent.

Mr Samal said as a precautionary measure the government directed the Collectors of the worst-affected districts to review the situation regularly.

UNI