Hyderabad: Seeking Rs 1,000 crore immediate aid, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend financial assistance to the his government’s irrigation projects to tackle drought.
Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari who had accompanied Mr Rao, said, “The CM sought Rs1,000 crore immediate aid for drought relief operations. In all, 13.53 lakh hectare of crops was damaged including horticulture crops like vegetables, mango, sweet lime, tomato, chilli, flowers etc. which affected 21.78 lakh farmers.”
He said that the state had received 14 per cent less rainfall while Medak had a shortfall of 35 per cent, Ranga Reddy 27 per cent and Mahbubnagar district 25 per cent. The CM also sought grants on par with other states in the country under the Backward Regions Grant Fund.
“TS received only Rs 450 crore aid under the scheme though nine districts are backward. Centre should provide aid on par with other states like Maharashtra,” said Mr Srihari.
Mr Rao also sought more IAS/IPS officers for the proposed 15 new districts and to speed up measures to increase the number of Assembly constituencies from the present 119 to 153.
