Cabinet Sub-Committee seeks to draw up department-wise plan to tackle El Nino induced drought conditions

Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka chairing a Cabinet Sub-Committee meeting on Drought, El Nino conditions in Hyderabad on Friday.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Drought and El Nino conditions chaired by Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka on Friday resolved to prepare a comprehensive and department-wise action plan to tackle the drought caused by El Nino conditions.

The plans will focus on safeguarding supply of water for drinking and irrigation and ensuring uninterrupted electricity, agricultural support and rural employment so that people do not face hardships in the coming days.

The first meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee, constituted to review the drought and El Nino situation in the State and recommend appropriate measures to the government, was held here on Friday (October 23). The meeting primarily discussed the impact of El Nino and drought in various parts of the State, water availability, relief measures for farmers and future action plans.

Sub-Committee members and Ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, D. Seethakka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Vakiti Srihari along with Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju and secretaries of the concerned departments attended the meeting.

Mr. Vikramarka asked the officials to scientifically assess drought conditions and examine the mandals eligible for declaration as drought-affected areas under the prescribed guidelines. He stressed that the government’s priority was to minimise the impact of drought and ensure timely delivery of necessary assistance to people through coordinated efforts.

He instructed officials to assess not only areas already experiencing severe drought but also mandals where the drought impact exceeds 20%. An advance assessment of the likely impact of drought on various sectors would help the government provide timely assistance to those in need, he said.

He suggested that every department identify the challenges and prepare a clear action plan to address them. He asked the officials to anticipate challenges in the power sector arising from El Nino conditions and take measures in advance.

Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked the District Collectors to conduct weekly review meetings with the officials concerned to monitor the measures being implemented to address the drought conditions. Mr. Nageswara Rao said farmers and the people in general be made aware of the ground situation. He suggested that weekly reports containing data on groundwater levels, rising summer temperatures and other relevant indicators be released at the district-level.

Ms. Seethakka called for the allocation of special emergency funds to District Collectors and ITDA Project Officers to take up drought-related works with ₹7,000 crore.

Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju said ₹1 crore each had already been released to District Collectors under emergency funds to address the prevailing situation. Based on preliminary assessments, drought conditions were identified in 358 mandals, taking into account parameters such as deficient rainfall and crop coverage falling below 50%.