ReliefWeb

By Nikhil Deshmukh, TNN | Mar 7, 2013, 03.01 AM IST

PUNE: The number of villages and hamlets in the state facing water and fodder scarcity has increased by 850 after the first week of February.

In the first week of February, 5,294 villages and hamlets were facing severe water scarcity. The number has now increased to 6,153. The number of tankers supplying drinking water to villages and hamlets has also increased from 1,730 in the first week of February to 2,136 by the first week of March, said a senior revenue officer.

The state government, in its revised data on scarcity-hit areas stated that as many as 1,663 villages and 4,490 hamlets were facing severe water and fodder scarcity in the first week of March.

The state government has also opened 518 fodder camps in the state to provide fodder and water to 4.33 lakh cattle. The highest number of fodder camps are in Ahmednagar (212) followed by Solapur (118) and Satara (100). The other districts having fodder camps are Pune, Sangli, Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Osmanabad, said the officer.

In the first week of February, there were 441 fodder camps in the state catering to 3.85 lakh cattle. Ahmednagar district had 188 camps followed by Solapur district with 115 camps.

The scarcity-hit districts in the state include Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Osmanabad, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and parts of Pune district. The government has spent Rs 749.29 crore on supplying drinking water and fodder.

The current water storage in the state is 488 TMC, which is 37% of the total storage capacity. Marathwada has only 12% water available, while Pune division has 39% water storage, said the officer.