231 mandals declared drought hit; TS seeks Rs 1000-cr Central aid

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has declared 231 out of 443 mandals in the State as drought affected and urged the Centre to provide an immediate financial assistance of Rs 1000 crore. The declaration of drought affected mandals came at a time when the Centre has been constantly telling that the two Telugu States did not send any drought reports.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao chaired the meeting at his camp office on Tuesday. Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary and other officials were present. The Chief Minister finalized the total number of affected areas. They found that while Khammam and Adilabad districts received good rainfall, Mahbubnagar, Medak and Nizamabad districts were declared totally drought hit, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Warangal were partially hit. However, the State Government did not find any drought mandal in Khammam and Adilabad districts.
According to primary estimations, the State government zeroed in on to seek Rs 1000 crore from the Centre. It also asked the Centre to send its team to study the actual loss occurred due to drought in the State. The State Government sent a report to the Centre seeking an immediate release of Rs 1000 crore towards succor to the affected areas. (NSS)