Hyderabad: Singur project in Medak district, which provides drinking water to the Twin Cities, has dried up and has literally turned into a football field, revealed agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.
Mr Reddy also told the Legislative Council that 462 cases of farmer suicides have been found to be genuine and the government has paid ex-gratia of Rs 6 lakh each to the kin of 402 victims, so far.
“I agree with the member’s comment that youths are playing football on the lakebed. The lake has dried up since there are no inflows from upstream Manjeera. Who is to be blamed for this?” the minister asked.
Replying to a debate on drought, he said inflows into Telangana from major rivers in Maharashtra and Karnataka have dropped to a trickle due to construction of 47 irrigation projects and barrages and accused the previous government of failing to stop it.
“Barring a heavy downpour, there is no chance of water flowing into Nizamsagar and other projects. I understand there is severe drought and the government has declared 231 mandals drought-affected as per the four-point criteria in vogue in previous governments. We can’t declare all mandals drought-hit,” he said.
Mr Reddy said that the government took up drought relief on a war footing with priority to drinking water, fodder and other measures. Dissatisfied with the reply, Congress MLCs walked out. The minister said that drinking water was supplied through tankers to 1,033 villages. Over 3,000 agriculture borewells were hired for drinking water purposes and Rs 350 crore earmarked for the purpose.
He disclosed that the Centre has agreed to take the farmer as the unit for payment of crop insurance cover in drought-hit areas instead of the village and mandal as a unit.
“A mandal is declared drought-hit if it fulfils four criteria — deficit rainfall, drop in 50 per cent crop yield, 33 per cent crop damage and dry spell for 21 days. Rainfall criteria is a must,” he explained.
Mr Reddy said that Rs 272 crore has already been released and more would follow, as per the requirements. Referring to drinking water crisis in Hyderabad, he said government has earmarked Rs 40 crore for the purpose.
