Nine out of 10 districts received deficit rainfall during the south west monsoon
Nine out of 10 districts received deficit rainfall during the south west monsoon
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is gearing up to declare scores of mandals as drought hit, as nine out of 10 districts received defi-cit rainfall during the south west monsoon.
Drought conditions are prevailing in 374 of the 464 mandals in Te-langana, almost three fourths of the state.
The agriculture department, in its latest report, states that 374 of the total 464 mandals received deficit (344) and scanty (30) rainfall from June 1 to October 29 while only 71 mandals received normal rainfall and 14 mandals excess.
Barring Mahbubna-gar which recorded normal rainfall, all the remaining nine Telan-gana districts, including Hyderabad, recorded deficit rainfall .
Taking serious note of the drought situation and fearing water crisis along with pow-er shortage, commissioner for disaster management and principal secretary (revenue) to government B.R. Meena constituted a nine-member committee for declaration of mandals as drought-hit and take up relief on a war-footing.
Once the mandals are notified as drought-hit, the government can take up relief measures immediately for all sections of people and seek Central government aid. All the district collectors, except Hyderabad, have been asked to submit proposals for declaration of drought mandals in tune with the drought manual.
According to Mr Meena, during the south west monsoon period (June 1 to September 30), 330 mandals recorded deficit rainfall and 23 mandals recorded scanty rainfall (total 353) out of 464 mandals in Telangana.
Nalgonda is worst-hit with 54 mandals recording deficit and scanty rainfall out of 59 mandals, Karimnagar 51 (57), Adilabad 47 (52), Medak 45 (46), Warangal 42 (51), Nizamabad 36 (36), Ranga Reddy 27 (37), Mahbubnagar 31 (64), Khammam 25 (46) and Hyderabad 16 (16).
Ground water levels has depleted in several districts, including Hyderabad.
Met categorises -20 per cent to -59 per cent as deficient rainfall, -60 per cent to -90 per cent as scanty and -19 per cent to + 19per cent normal and + 20 per cent and above as excess.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao asked district collectors to take immediate steps to face the drought as the state received -34 per cent rainfall this monsoon. State received 534 mm rainfall as against the normal of as on date of 811.2 mm.
As per Andhra Pradesh Handbook for Management of Drought, 1995 and Manual for Drought Management published by Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, 2009, a mandal is declared drought hit if the deficiency in rainfall is -25 per cent and above in mandals where annual normal rainfall is more than 1000 mm followed by - 20 per cent and above in mandals where the annual normal rainfall is 750 mm to 999.9 mm and -15per cent and above in mandals where the annual normal rainfall is less than 750 mm.
While rainfall deficiency is a must to declare a mandal as drought hit, compression/reduction in the crop areas of 50 per cent and above under all principal crops, normal reduction in crop yields of 50 per cent and above comparative with average yields, yield comparison with previous five years is also taken into account.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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