Drought situation grim, State tells Centre

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 3. After the initial showers in early June, there has been no rain in a majority of districts, resulting in substantial irrigated area being left fallow in Rayalaseema, Prakasam and Nellore districts, according to the State Government's memorandum to the Centre on drought conditions.

The Telangana region, where sowings were taken up during June, could not sustain the seedlings as there was a continuous dry spell of 40 days. A large part of the sown area got damaged, resulting in unprecedented re-sowing operations. The deficit in rainfall ranged from 18 per cent to 79 per cent.

The water levels in major reservoirs were also were minimum because of lack of inflows. The Nagarjunasagar dam has only enough water for two days of irrigation. Other projects, such as Srisailam, Singur, Nizamsagar, have not let water into the canals so far. Even projects on the Godavari basin, such as the Sriramsagar and Kadem, have no water for release. There is an accumulated deficit of over 150 tmcft of water in major river basins.

About 95 per cent of minor irrigation sources, numbering 12,264, and 95 medium irrigation projects, have no water. Keeping in view the above crisis situation and urgency involved, the State Government released Rs. 32 crores for augmenting drinking water supply in rural and urban areas, and Rs 93.72 crores for employment generation works.

Due to the prolonged dry spell of 40 days, only 26.32 lakh hectares has been planted with paddy, compared to 45.86 lakh hectares at this time last year. Groundnut was sown in 1.91 lakh ha compared to the normal area of 16.24 lakh ha while pulses were sown in 4.44 lakh ha compared to 8.68 lakh ha normal area.

The State Government said it evolved a multi-pronged approach to overcome the unprecedented drought situation, and that the Government of India need to stand by farmers and agricultural labour at the critical juncture by supporting this contingency approach.

The total funds required: Agriculture Rs 64.26 crore, Animal husbandry Rs 60.90 crores, Rural water supply Rs. 356.35 crores, Urban water supply Rs 60 crores, Public health Rs 5 crores, Social security in villages Rs 70.63 crores, wage employment Rs 182 crores and forest wage employment Rs 50 crores. Total Rs. 849.14 crores.

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Section  : Southern States
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