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More AP areas declared drought-hit

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

With the drought situation in Andhra Pradesh turning from bad to worse, the state government on Tuesday issued a notification declaring 101 mandals as drought-affected. With this, the number of drought-hit mandals has reached 609 in as many as 15 districts out of 23 in the state.

The notification followed the review of the drought situation by the state cabinet at its meeting held on Monday. It was decided to release Rs 500 million towards input subsidy to farmers to raise new crops and Rs 225 million for provision of drinking water in the affected mandals.

Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu assured that the state government would spend more than Rs 5 billion in the drought-hit districts in the next five months to provide succour to farmers and other affected sections. The money would be spent on watershed development, minor irrigation facilities and employment generation schemes for creating permanent assets in the affected areas.

Naidu said that relief measures have been expedited to mitigate the sufferings of the people. District collectors have been asked to provide work to agricultural labour to curb their migration. Drinking water and fodder supply are being accorded high priority, with additional funds earmarked for repairs to borewells.

The drought situation has turned worse in the recent weeks due to the failure of the south-west monsoon and as well as the north-east monsoon. Though at the state level, the deficit in the rainfall was not alarming, the deficiency was quite high at the mandal level.

During the kharif season alone, the loss in terms of areas unsown as well as production loss due to damages to the standing crop is estimated at Rs 25.67 billion.

The state government recently submitted a memorandum to the Indian government seeking central assistance of Rs 7.2 billion for taking up relief and rehabilitation works, covering agriculture, drinking water, employment generation, health, special nutrition and animal husbandry programmes.

A Central team visited the state for four days in October 1999 and held discussions with officials. However, Central assistance is still awaited. The state government has, however, taken measures to combat the drought with its own funds.

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