El Nino Is Like Covid Pandemic, Says Revanth

Hyderabad:Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said the state government must treat the impact of El Nino as a disaster comparable to the Covid-19 pandemic and asked all government departments to prepare for a prolonged spell of adverse conditions.

Announcing an informal Cabinet meeting at Secretariat on Thursday to review El Nino conditions in the state, the Chief Minister cautioned that a situation that appears manageable at present could develop into a serious crisis if officials failed to act in advance.

At a high-level review meeting held at MCRHRDI on Wednesday on the impact of El Nino, prevailing rainfall deficit and the availability of electricity and drinking water, the Chief Minister said, “An El Nino situation is like a Covid-like disaster. Nobody knows how long it will continue. What appears to be a problem now could turn into a crisis if we fail to remain alert,” he said, directing every department to assess the likely impact within its jurisdiction, identify solutions and initiate immediate preventive measures.

He instructed all departments to prepare comprehensive action plans extending until June next year, anticipating that the prevailing conditions could continue until the next spell of rainfall. Departments were asked to coordinate their efforts and ensure that people did not face hardship during the intervening period.

The Chief Minister stressed the need for advance arrangements to prevent drinking water shortages across the state. He directed officials to prepare plans to maintain uninterrupted drinking water supply and ensure that adequate resources were available to meet public demand. In the Greater Hyderabad region, he asked officials to promote the use of treated wastewater from sewage treatment plants (STPs) for construction and other suitable non-potable purposes to conserve drinking water.

He also directed officials to take special measures to protect livestock from the effects of drought and ensure adequate availability of fodder. Advance arrangements must be made to prevent shortages and avoid hardship to cattle, he said.

To strengthen monitoring at the grassroots level, Revanth Reddy ordered the appointment of Group-I and Group-II officers as special monitoring officials for every mandal. They would continuously monitor rainfall conditions, electricity and drinking water supply, crop conditions and fodder availability in their respective mandals and report developments to the Chief Secretary regularly.

Revanth Reddy also called for an extensive public awareness campaign on the impact of El Nino and the challenges likely to arise in the coming months. He directed officials to organise gram sabhas across the state after Dasara and until Deepavali to explain the situation and the precautions people should take.

Cultural programmes and folk performances should be used to educate people on the need to conserve water and electricity and prepare for the possible effects of prolonged dry conditions. The campaign should reach people from the village level to the state level, he said.

Revanth Reddy directed all departments to work in coordination, anticipate emerging problems and take timely preventive measures to ensure that people, farmers and livestock did not suffer until rainfall resumed next year.

He directed officials to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply round the clock to protect standing crops from drying up, warning that the next 20 days would be crucial for farmers and that power disruptions would not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Revanth Reddy said electricity supply must be maintained until farmers harvested their crops and directed officials to identify areas with higher agricultural power demand and augment supply accordingly.