Steps taken to tackle drought in state: Minister

Hyderabad, Aug 19:

Minister for Agriculture Raghuveera Reddy on Wednesday stated that the state government would take all possible measures to tackle the prevailing drought situation in some parts of the state.

Making a statement in the House, he said that the State Government was closely monitoring the situation arising out of deficient rainfall and taking required steps to address the problems.

He said that the Agriculture Department, under a contingency plan, would supply 3.71 lakh quintals of seed to cover 10.93 lakh hectare under different crops, if there was no rainfall till August 15. He said the government initially released an amount of Rs 35 crore to the Agriculture Department towards contingency plans for alternative crops and requested the Centre to release Rs 93 crore from Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Yojana for seed subsidy.

He stated that the government had already initiated various steps, including seed availability and taking up works under National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.
He said Rs five crore was being released to the Horticulture Department for taking up vegetable cultivation under irrigated conditions and the government had requested the Centre to release Rs 10.8 crore towards vegetable seeds subsidy.

There might be shortfall of 50 per cent fodder requirement in the next three months if the same situation continued and the Animal Husbandry Department had prepared contingency plan for Rs 7.95 crore for supply of fodder seed and provision of health cover.

He said the habitations with acute shortage of drinking water were identified and water provided from nearest sources.
The District Collectors were instructed to use substantial portion of money released under Backward Regions Growth Fund for drinking water purposes, he pointed out
He said the Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has taken up Jalayagnam as an election promise to the cultivating people of state to bring 82 lakh acres under irrigation in five years. This project accords the highest priority for the development of irrigation infrastructure, particularly in backward and drought prone areas by taking up this program in a big way, he added. Besides, the Andhra Pradesh Government will extend crop insurance scheme to all districts in the State, he added.