VIJAYAWADA: As many as 87 mandals in six districts of the State have been declared as drought-affected on the basis of rainfall received and other conditions, including scarcity of drinking water, fodder for cattle, drop in groundwater levels during the Northeast Monsoon 2023-24 (Rabi).
This is in addition to the 103 mandals that were declared drought-hit in November last year. Majority of these mandals are in the Rayalaseema region.
Special Chief Secretary (disaster management) of Revenue Department Ajay Jain issued orders declaring 63 mandals as severe and 24 as moderate drought- affected. These mandals were declared drought-hit as per the reports submitted by the respective district collectors.
Of the 87 mandals, the highest of 31 are in Prakasam, followed by 18 in Kurnool, 14 in Anantapur, 13 in Nandyal, 10 in Nellore and one in Sri Sathya Sai district.
Ajay Jain directed the district collectors to notify the drought-hit mandals so that farmers can avail credit facilities, and take up relief operations. According to officials, relief operations include creation of more workdays under NREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and also providing basic amenities for those who are engaged to work under the employment scheme.
Kurnool District Water Management Agency (DWMA) project director B Amarnath Reddy said in view of the rise in the number of drought-hit mandals in the district, the labour budget has been increased. “NREGA labourers stand to benefit as they can utilise maximum number of working days,” he said.
He also opined that the surge NREGA budget can result in drop in migrations of families who move to other districts like Guntur, and cities such as Hyderabad in Telangana and Bengaluru in Karnataka in search of livelihood every year due to non-availability of sufficient works.
It may be noted that almost all mandals in Adoni division are drought-prone and migrations have become a recurring issue in these parts of the district.
In the drought-affected mandals declared in November 2023, Anantapur had the highest of 28 mandals, followed by 24 in Kurnool, 21 in Sri Sathya Sai, 18 in Annamayya, six in Nandyal and four in Chittoor districts.
