On Tuesday, Chief Secretary P K Mishra, alongwith Relief Commissioner Umesh Sinha and a team of officials from several departments left for a two-day visit to Jhansi to supervise the work there. This visit comes just days before the arrival of a central team to review the situation in Bundelkhand on January 10.

Mishra said, “We will review the expenditure of drought relief money every 10 days and any officer found guilty of neglecting his duties or committing any irregularity will be strictly dealt with.” Sources said that the team will also review measures taken by the state government to check hunger deaths there. The delegation held several meetings throughout the day with divisional level officers and public representatives, to focus on focus on the expenditure under the drought-relief package, they added.

On Monday, Mishra had asked the principal secretaries of all departments to come up with area-specific projects for drought-hit regions within three days. He had also directed the department heads to ensure proper publicity of all works being undertaken or been done by the state government in Bundelkhand. For this, several state departments are putting up signboards at strategic places to make the public aware of their projects.

In September 2007, the Mayawati Government had declared nine districts of Bundelkhand, Banda, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Chitrakoot, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra, drought-affected. She had also demanded two separate packages for Bundelkhand from the Union Government.