Drought like situation is looming over 203 villages of Kutch. The government has already declared 106 of these as partial scarcity-hit, while a proposal of the same purpose for another 97 village has been sent for consideration. Sources in the Kutch collectorate said, “A proposal to declare villages of Abdasa and Rapar Taluka as scarcity hit has been forwarded to the state government. The region had not received good rainfall during the last monsoon. Several villages had received rainfall much below the average.” In charge of relief operation at Kutch Collectorate D N Shah said that the region was desert-like and drought-prone area. Less than normal rainfall during the last season made the situation quite difficult, he added. At present, water was being supplied in these villages through tankers from the nearby sources. Officials in the government said that apart from these villages in Kutch, there were another 80 villages which were not declared as scarcity-hit but the water was supplied through tankers. The relief commissioner’s office is keeping a close watch on the progress of Monsoon. “The monsoon has already set in in the south ern part of the country, we are expecting it to arrive here by mid June. The officials are keeping an eye on the situation and if the rains are delayed or there is further increase in temperatures, the department will immediately take necessary measures,” a state government official said. The villages where the main water sources has almost dried out or is on the verge of drying, the department is keeping a close watch. Total storage of water in the dams was around 38.87 per cent. The dams have 6121.28 million cubic metre of water in Saurashtra and Kutch. A review meeting has being called on Tuesday to study the impact of El Nino and the monsoon. This meeting will decide on what measures need to be taken in case there was a delay of over a week in the arrival of monsoon. The monsoon is expected to hit the state by June 15. However, in 2013 the monsoon had arrived in the state on June 10.