Govt identifies 291 mandals as drought-hit

Minister for Revenue N Raghuveera Reddy said that the government identified 291 mandals as drought hit in Kharif and he directed the district collectors to send drought reports by October end.

In the video conference held in the Secretariat on Tuesday, Raghuveera Reddy said that the Collectors should follow six parameters in confirming the drought hit areas including moisture adequacy index and crop loss. He said that the submitting of drought reports were delayed two months because of various reasons and it is high time to act upon it.

Referring to the entering of the crops in 21 and 28 columns of adangal, he said that the Centre was rejected to sanction drought relief because of not entering of crops in 21 and 28 columns of adangal. “Entering the crops in the columns is must to get Central drought relief,” he said, adding that the Collectors should ensure that the village revenue officers maintain the records. He said that the crop loss of 50 per cent would be treated as drought in case of commercial crops and 40 per cent of other crops.

On input subsidy, he said that the input subsidy of Nilam cyclone was not distributed in many districts including Krishna, Guntur, East Godavari, Kadapa, Mahabubnagar and Kurnool. He said that Collectors should credit the amounts in the accounts of concerned farmers within four days.