Summary:
The politics over drought escalated on Wednesday as NCP chief Sharad Pawar wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis highlighting loopholes in drought relief work. Inadequate tanker water, irregularities in tanker supply, non-availability of food grains and ration shops are among the other issues raised by him. On the other hand, a tehsildar now has the authority to start tanker water supply to any drought-affected village — a power which was earlier vested on collectors," Patil said. "We had organised a cabinet sub-committee meeting on Wednesday and decided to increase the per cattle fodder amount from Rs 90 to Rs 100. Calling it the worse drought since 1972, Pawar pointed out that the current cattle subsidy is inadequate..