Telangana Officials Preliminarily Identify Severe Drought in 320 Mandals

Telangana officials have preliminarily identified severe drought conditions across 320 mandals in 18 districts, with the situation attributed to the El Nino effect.

Chief Secretary Sanjau Jaju directed officials to prepare a comprehensive report on declaring the affected mandals drought-hit by the end of October.

At a meeting held in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Jaju said the assessment must consider more than the rainfall received between June and September during the Southwest Monsoon.

He said 12 additional indicators would have to be examined before the comprehensive report was prepared.

Jaju also directed officials to collect data from the Groundwater, Planning, Revenue, Agriculture, Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply departments.

The information is to be used to identify drought-affected mandals according to the applicable norms.

The assessment comes after the State Cabinet decided to constitute a sub-committee to identify immediate measures for areas affected by El Niño conditions.

The Cabinet also decided that consultations would be held with farmers’ association and experts before mitigation measures are finalised.

The proposed report and the department-wise data collection will therefore form part of the process for determining the drought-affected mandals and considering the response to the conditions.

Source: The Hindu