MUMBAI, May 4 (Xinhua): India's western state of Maharashtra is reeling under severe water scarcity with 151 out of 358 sub-districts in the state being officially declared drought prone.
The state has 4,774 tankers currently supplying water to 12,116 villages and 1,264 fodder camps catering to nearly 850,000 livestock, according to state officials.
The Indian government too has sanctioned 682 million U.S. dollars for drought relief work.
According to the state government data, water in state reservoirs has been plummeting speedily and the total storage in all reservoirs currently is 19.35 percent against 30.84 percent last year.
Meanwhile, the country's Election Commission has allowed Maharashtra to sanction and implement drinking water supply schemes in the areas where election is over.
However, it has asked the state to refrain from any "undue publicity" of the work for political gains.
The state chief minister had written to the Election Commission, the autonomous regulatory body that holds elections across the country, seeking relaxation for conducing drought relief in the state from the model code of conduct of the ongoing parliamentary elections.
Election Commission's nod had come for undertaking infrastructure works including drilling of bore-wells, repair of drinking water supply units, acquisition of well and irrigation water maintenance among others in drought-affected areas.
The voting for the 48 parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra ended on April 29 as part of the fourth phase. There are three more poll phases to go before the seven phase election ends in May.
