Madhya Pradesh government has sought assistance of Rs 1548.91 crore from the Central government for drought relief works. A memorandum in this regard was presented to a central team, which has arrived here to assess the drought situation in the state at meeting with senior officers of the state government here today. At the meeting with the inter-ministerial central team the officers of the state government informed them that 37 out of total 48 districts of the state are reeling under drought. Of these, 21 districts are totally affected. The number of drought-affected tehsils is 157 in the state. The meeting was informed that Madhya Pradesh has been facing drought conditions for last many years and some areas are facing drought for the fourth year in a row. Kharif crops have failed in these areas due to drought. Rabi sowing has been only 30 to 35 percent due to paucity of irrigation water. The central team was informed that as an immediate measure the state government has allotted funds from drought relief head to generate employment for the needy. Funds have also been provided for drinking water and fodder arrangement in the affected areas. A sum of Rs 205 crore was spent till December 31 last year and a sum of Rs 45 crore has been spent from January 1 to February 15 this year whereas only first installment of Rs 50.49 crore has been received from the centre under this head. On the demand of the officers the central team assured early release of the second installment of Rs 177.35 crore. The state government officers informed about the serious drinking water situation in some areas saying that drinking water is transported in such areas due to declining ground water table and lack of drinking water sources there. Many rural and urban areas are facing this situation. The memorandum sought Rs 1001.88 crore for providing employment to the needy, Rs 142.66 crore for drinking water arrangement in rural and urban areas, Rs 142.35 crore for food and civil supply and Rs 214.98 crore for energy related works. A sum of Rs 47.04 crore has been demanded for public heath, veterinary works and different subsidies. The meeting was informed that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recently written a letter to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urging that along with six drought affected districts of Bundelkhand, three drought hit districts of Vindhya region should also be included in the study for long term measures in drought affected areas. A Rs 22,250 crore special development scheme has been forwarded to him for these nine districts. It may be mentioned here that the central government has constituted an inter-ministerial team to suggest long term measures after studying the conditions in six drought affected districts of Bundelkhand region. Prominent among those who attended the meeting included Additional Chief Secretary, Pradeep Bhargawa; Principal Secretary (Finance) Ashok Das; Principal Secretary (Revenue) D Singhai; Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Arvind Joshi; Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Pravesh Sharma; Principal Secretary (Animal Husbandry) Rakesh Agrawal; Principal Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies) MK Rai; Secretary (PHE) PC Meena and senior officers of forest, energy, urban administration and development, public works department. Led by Joint Secretary in the Union Agriculture Ministry SK Patnayak the team comprises Dinesh Chand, JD Sharma, BP, Nagar, Dr CS Sahukar, Vinod Kumar, Mohammad Nauman, SK Kandam and Dr AK Tiwari. After the meeting the Central team preceded to the drought affected areas of the state. The tem would visit Rajgarh, Shivpuri, Datia, Satna and Gwalior districts. The team would return to Delhi on the evening of Thursday.