Disaster Response Force For Maharashtra Cleared

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Disaster Response Force For Maharashtra ClearedNAGPUR: The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday gave clearance to a proposal for setting up a disaster response force of its own on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) set up by the Union government. It also gave its nod for creating 428 posts for the proposed force.
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Every year floods, landslides, drought are annual features that affect 15 to 20 districts of the state, Last year, most of Vidarbha was hit by excessive rains, Latur in past was hit by earthquake.

Instead of depending only on the NDRF's two units that are based in Talegaon Dabhade, the government feels the need to set up its own units for faster response. So two companies, each comprising three teams of 45 personnel each will be put in place.

The cabinet also decided to provide a financial grant of Rs221 crore to district central cooperative banks and primary cooperative agriculture credit societies in the state. While Rs131 crore will be given to DCCBs, farm credit societies will get Rs95 crore. Besides 31 DCCBs, there are 21,382 credit societies that work at village level. This capital infusion was necessitated to empower the cooperating farm funding network on which nearly 70% of farmers depend. The cooperative banks have been in trouble following state's decision in 2008-07 to offer farm loans at as low as 6% interest, a government note said.

The Cabinet also expressed satisfaction that the monsoon had picked up well by July end and the aggregate rainfall received till now is 61% of the average for the season. Except for 10 districts, including Yavatmal, Nashik, Aurangabad where there is deficiency, other districts have received over 50% rainfall. By July 28, sowing was done in 62% of the 134 lakh hectares expected under kharif coverage.