'Annoyed' JMM wants drought-hit tag for entire Jharkhand

, Aug 29: Difference among allies in the

government worsened over declaring which areas of the state would be declared as drought-hit, said a report published in

on Wednesday.

The BJP-led government decided to declare six districts as drought-hit on Tuesday but the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), an ally of the BJP in the government, demanded that the entire state should be declared drought-hit. According to the JMM, the government was relying too much on feedback prepared by the bureaucrats and not working much with the allies. Four ministers of the JMM met Chief Minister Arjun Munda and informed him about their demand.

JMM sources said Munda called a meeting with administrative officials on Tuesday to discuss the drought situation. The state administrative sources believed that the JMM was annoyed for not getting an invitation in the meeting.

The government found itself in a tricky situation after the JMM raised its demand. A Patna-based meteorologist, as reported by the daily, said technically the entire Jharkhand is not a drought-hit state and only the six districts, namely, Deoghar, Sahebganj, West Singhbhum, Dumka, Gumla and Godda received inadequate rain till Aug 27 this year.

OneIndia News