Nando Times

Searing drought plagues western India

The Associated Press

AHMADABAD, India (May 1, 2001 6:19 p.m. EDT) - Still recovering from a devastating earthquake, western India is now battling a drought that is making it hard for the region to bounce back, officials said Tuesday.

Gujarat and parts of neighboring Rajasthan state have been declared drought areas following two years of light monsoon rains.

Officials said the drought has delayed recovery from an earthquake that struck in late January, killing 20,000 people and burying entire towns and villages.

To help spur recovery, the government has begun 4,620 relief projects, employing 2.5 million people, said B.R. Patel, director of relief for the Gujarat government.

Workers at the government-sponsored projects are being paid 86 cents a day and despite the meager pay, people are flocking to the projects because they are so desperate, according to officials.

But nongovernment organizations and opposition leaders have accused the state government of not doing enough to alleviate the suffering of those hit hardest by the earthquake and drought.

Amarsinh Choudhary, a member of the opposition Congress party, said he knew about at least three deaths due to malnutrition in north Gujarat in April.

"Its a twin tragedy for Gujarat," Choudhary said. "First we had an earthquake and now a drought."

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 01, 2001