Chief Minister Nitish Kumar convened a high level meeting Wednesday to review the situation. During the meeting, he hinted that the government would declare several areas drought-hit after getting the ministers' reports.

Officials of the state agriculture department, water resources department, disaster management department and other concerned departments would also study the situation and submit their reports to the government.

According to agriculture department officials, so far only 30 percent of paddy seedling transplantation has been done this season due to scanty rainfall.

The state government had set a target of cultivating paddy on 3.55 million hectares this year.

'But till date, transplantation has been reported on about 1.1 million hectares,' one official said.

Last month, the chief minister announced that farmers would be given diesel at subsidised rates under a contingency plan to cope with the drought-like situation.