Central team greeted with withered crops, empty pots

By Our Special Correspondent

IBRAHIMPATNAM, AUG. 7. A five-member Central Team undertook a whirlwind tour of Ranga Reddy district on Tuesday and saw the acute drought conditions prevailing in many areas.

Dried-up tanks, withering crops, acute scarcity of drinking water, fodder shortage and lack of gainful employment are the immediate adverse impact of drought. The district had a rainfall deficit of minus 22 per cent during peak transplantation period up to July 31.

The team was aghast at the sight of the dried up Nizam-built Ibrahimpatnam Cheruvu. This has dried up for the first time in 30 years. Farmers complained to the team leader, Mr. S. P. Juyal, Director in the Directorate of Oilseeds Development, New Delhi, that the entire 12,500-acre ayacut under the tank was left fallow and that they could raise only fodder.

Farmers did not even leave the team when it reached the MRO office in the small town where the Agriculture Secretary, Mr. K.R. Kishore, and the district Collector, Mr. Ajay Jain, gave a graphic account of the drought situation through a photo- exhibition.

Narrating their tales of woe, the farmers asked Mr. Juyal to treat the deficit rainfall as an ``emergency situation'' and provide concessions or remissions as would have been allowed to a drought-hit district like waiver of power bills, subsidised supply of seeds, opening of food centres and exemption of fees for students.

From here Mr. Juyal and his men went to the fields and interior hamlets along the Hyderabad-Nagarjunasagar road and at no place were they free from hostile crowds of villagers. Jowar crop, which was sown in place of paddy, was found damaged from 30 to 80 per cent.

As the team members visited fields at Khanapur, Nomula, Agapalli and Gunkal, farmers greeted them with faded sheaves of jowar, while women displayed empty pots to highlight shortage of drinking water.

Our Cuddapah Staff Reporter writes:

Another Central team went on a whirlwind three-hour tour of some places in Cuddapah district and had a short interaction with farmers at a couple of places.

The team members had a brief interaction with MLAs of Telugu Desam Party and the Congress and officials at Cuddapah aerodrome, where they arrived by helicopter.

The team, headed by Mr. K.D. Sinha, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Agriculture, went round photo exhibitions at the aerodrome and at Lock-in-Sula, near Alamkhanpalle, here, on the drought situation. They had a look at the totally dried up Pennar river from atop the bridge at Chennur.

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