SC summons Chief Secys of 10 drought-affected states

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued summons to the Chief Secretaries of 10 states asking them to appear before it on April 26 in connection with the drought case.

The court passed this order after hearing the plea filed by NGO 'Swaraj Abhiyan' seeking proper rehabilitation and financial assistance to the drought-affected people.Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra are the affected drought states.Initially, there were 12 states in the drought case but the Supreme Court deleted Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.

In May last year, the apex court had directed the drought-hit states to provide highly subsidised food grains to the affected people under the National Food Security (NFS) Act.

The apex court bench had pulled up Haryana, Gujarat and Bihar for refusing to declare drought, despite a sharp fall in the monsoon rains, a primary indicator for assessing people`s distress arising from water scarcity and crop failure.

Gujarat declared drought only in some areas that too very late.The apex court had directed all the 10 states, including Haryana and Bihar, to provide five kilogram of food-grains per person a month at the price meant for below poverty line (BPL) families and this should be given to even those above the poverty line (APL) and those not holding ration cards.