22 districts to be declared drought-hit

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 1. Faced by severe drought looming large over the State, the Cabinet has decided in principle to declare 22 districts `drought-affected' apart from outlining a number of steps to mitigate the sufferings of people.

It is also seeking Central assistance of Rs. 849.98 crores and free supply of six lakh tonnes of rice to fund wage employment works. The Minister for Revenue and Relief, Mr. P. Ashok Gajapati Raju, and the Minister for Civil Supplies, Dr. N. Janardhan Reddy, will meet the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Ajit Singh, and the Minister for Food, Mr. Shantha Kumar, on Thursday to formally present a memorandum to the Government of India.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, said at a Cabinet briefing today that he would go to Delhi in this connection later. As an immediate relief, the Government released Rs. 30 crores additionally for wage employment works. Total releases under various heads for drought relief now stood at Rs. 174 crores, up from Rs. 140 crores released last week.

While 22 districts are to be declared drought- affected, he explained, the task of identifying mandals for the purpose would be left to the district administration in consultation with the District Development and Revenue Committee (DDRC).

Another major decision related to increase in the duration of power supply to farmers from 9 hours to 12 hours.

He said power would be supplied from 12 midnight to 12 noon to one batch and from 12 noon to 6.00 p.m. and from 12 midnight to 6.00 a.m. to the other batch. There was hardly any hydel generation and the demand skyrocketed on account of prolonged dry spell. The power grid was being strained to the maximum as the consumption hit 133 million units per day. The Government would buy power from other States and meet the requirements of farmers. The following is the sectoral break-up of the Rs. 849.98 crores sought from the Centre: Agriculture Rs. 65 crores, animal husbandry Rs. 61 crores, rural water supply Rs. 356.35 crores, urban water supply Rs. 60 crores, rural development and social security Rs. 70.63 crores, health Rs. 5 crores, rural development and wage employment Rs. 182 crores, forest and wage employment Rs. 50 crores.

Mr. Naidu gave an update of the situation, saying that Anantapur and Cuddapah reported 79 per cent deficit in rainfall due to 25 to 40-day dry spell. Flows into Srisailam reservoir were modest. There was problem in all reservoirs barring the Godavari delta. Nearly 10,700 borewells had dried up and drinking water was being transported to 324 problem villages.

The Government was constantly monitoring the levels in reservoirs even as Karnataka was requested to step up releases from Alamatti and Narayanpur.

A kharif contingency action plan was being put in place in districts. The Government was hiring C band to beam extension and information programmes to farmers through Teja Television for an hour every evening. Scientists would offer advice and clear doubts of farmers through the medium.

The Chief Minister said clear instructions had gone to the districts that all drought relief works should be taken up manually totally avoiding machines. Only drought-relief works would be executed. Similarly, the authorities were told that there would be no coercive collection of agriculture bills or any dues in the affected areas. Farmers would be given seed on 50 per cent subsidy and fodder seed at 75 per cent subsidy.

He said 62,00 tonnes of rice was available at Rs. 6.40 a kg for below the poverty-line card-holders and at Rs. 9 a kg for those above that line at the rate of 20 kg and 30 kg per card respectively.

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