Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday finally declared 456 mandals (tehsils) in 15 districts of the
state as drought-affected owing to inadequate rainfall this
season, even as opposition parties said more than 750 mandals
were adversely affected.
While the main opposition Telugu Desam Party said that
standing crops in over 37 lakh acres dried up due to deficient
rainfall and power crisis, the government has not yet come out
with an official estimate in this regard.
The state Cabinet, which met here late this evening under
the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy,
approved the recommendations of the respective district
Collectors and announced the list of drought-hit mandals as
per the Manual for Drought Management of the Union Agriculture
Ministry.
"We will obtain reports from Collectors of other
districts as well and declare more mandals as drought-hit in
the second phase," state Information and Public Relations
Minister D K Aruna told newsmen after the Cabinet meeting.
The Anantapur district topped the list with all of its
63 mandals declared as draught-hit followed by Nalgonda with
52 and Karimnagar with 50.
Out of the 15 districts, six are in Telangana region,
four in Rayalaseema and the rest in coastal Andhra.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, October 29, 2011, 21:33