Even as most parts of western India are experiencing drought-like conditions, the newly appointed Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat on Tuesday said India has sufficient water in dams and the scarcity is a scare created by the media. “Up North, in Himachal and other areas, there is enough water in the dams.
The entire scare of an imminent water crisis is hype created by people in the media,” he said while answering a question at a press conference. Incidentally, last month, the Centre had issued a "drought advisory" to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, asking them to use water judiciously. The advisory was issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC) on May 18. A drought advisory is issued when the water level in reservoirs is 20% less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years.