An inter-ministerial team, deputed by the Union government, will take stock of the gravity of the drought situation in Palakkad district.
The team will reach Palakkad on Wednesday and interact with farmers and district officials. A meeting of different department heads, convened by Collector P. Marykutty, has decided to apprise the Central team about the intensity of drought in the district, apart from the extent of crop loss and decreasing water level in dams.
Conflict
Increasing human-wildlife conflict, drinking water shortage, joblessness of inland fish workers, massive forest fires that ravaged the Parambikulam tiger reserve, etc., will find place in the discussions. The Central team, led by Agriculture Ministry joint secretary Ashwin Kumar, will visit various drought-affected regions of the district.
Agriculture Director K. Ponnuswamy, Central Electricity Authority director Anjali Chandra, Finance Ministry director Gopal Prasad and R. Thankamani, director of the Beach Erosion Directorate, are the other members of the Central team. The team will visit Vaniampara, the Mangalam dam area, Erimayur, Neeracode and Menonpara. Minister for SC/ST Welfare A.K. Balan will meet the team in the evening to apprise them of the situation in the district.
