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With chief ministers of Congress ruled states complaining of step-motherly treatment by the Centre in the drought relief measures, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday demanded that certain parts of the country be declared drought-hit.
She also sought enhancement of the corpus of the National Calamity Relief Fund to a minimum of Rs 100 billion to tackle the grave situation.
Gandhi made this demand when she met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with chief ministers S M Krishna of Karnataka, Ajit Jogi of Chattisgarh and Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan to discuss the release of funds for relief measures.
Earlier at a meeting on Sunday, chief ministers of six Congress ruled states had apprised the party chief on the problems they faced in tackling the drought in their states.
Gandhi asked the prime minister to convene a special meeting of the National Development Council to discuss the drought situation, send special teams to all affected states and ensure free transportation of fodder and water by the railways to the effected areas.
She also wanted creation of an all-party committee on drought management, like in 1987, and an inter-ministerial crisis management group to discuss the implementation of relief plans.
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