Drought Hits 365 Mandals in 31 Dists: Nearly 60% of Telangana Affected

The state government on Tuesday officially declared drought in 365 mandals, accounting for 58.7 per cent of the total 621 mandals, with the affected mandals spread over 31 districts and initiated the drought protocols that will see several departments getting involved in drought mitigation activities.

Of the 365 mandals in 31 districts, 111 have ‘severe’ drought, and 254 have ‘moderate’ drought, the government said, adding that the drought declaration is with respect to the Kharif crop season that is nearly at an end.

With the drought declaration focusing on rural areas, the government orders, issued by Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju said that notified municipal, or urban areas, should not be included in the official drought notifications to be issued by the respective district collectors for each affected mandal.

As far as such areas are concerned, the government made it clear that they will be treated as drought affected, but only with respect to their drinking water supplies.

The declaration of drought followed a multi-criteria scientific assessment across all mandals. These criteria included crop sown area condition, soil moisture, groundwater drought index along with rainfall data during the South West monsoon that began on June 1 and ended on September 30.

The government said Telangana received a cumulative rainfall of 615.5 mm as against the normal rainfall of 740.6 mm with a deviation of minus-17 per cent during the monsoon, with 18 of 33 districts recording deficit fainfall. The Kharif crop area reduced from 139.28 lakh acres to 126.06 lakh acres. The area under paddy reduced by 18 per cent, from 69.19 lakh to 57 lakh acres.

The drought has also raised the prospect of water shortages, the government said with a rising risk to drinking water supplies, water for livestock, and for agriculture, and there could also be power shortages. The live storage in major and medium reservoirs as on date was 179.63 tmc ft against 585 tmc ft, which raised concerns on water supplies, the orders said.

31 districts hit by drought

Adilabad, Bhadadri-Kothagudem, Hanamkonda, Jagitial, Jangaon, Jayashankar Bhupalapalli, Jogulamba Gadwal, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mahbubabad, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Medak, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Mulugu, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Narayanpet, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Rajanna Sircilla, Rangareddy, Sangareddy, Siddipet, Suryapet, Vikarabad, Wanaparthy, Warangal, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri.

Severe drought in 111 mandals

Moderate drought in 254 mandals

What follows

District administrations to initiate relief measures.

Provide input subsidy to farmers through direct benefit transfer; Beneficiaries lists to be published.

Augmentation drinking water supplies.

Ensure fodder for livestock.

Set up cattle camps where required.

Employment generation under VB-G RAM G.

District collectors to seek restructuring of agricultural credit.

Ensure enforcement of no coercive loan recovery as per RBI rules.

For Central assistance

Planning department to furnish memorandum to revenue (disaster management) department, for submission to Union agriculture and home ministries.

Central assistance to be sought from National Disaster Relief Fund

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District collectors, director of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, vice-chairman and MD, Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd., to initiate immediate relief measures and to maintain a register of beneficiaries and expenditure, submit progress reports on relief operations to the Revenue (Disaster Management) Department.

The declaration of drought in 365 mandals comes just a day ahead of a meeting on Wednesday between the Cabinet sub-committee on El Nino and all the political parties. The meeting is expected to see the government explain the steps it has taken so far and the political parties explaining what they expect the government to do for drought mitigation.