Telangana is facing a drought, says CM Revanth Reddy

Confirming that drought conditions were prevailing in the State, the Chief Minister called for a united fight, urging farmers raising demands for release of water from reservoirs to "understand the situation"

Hyderabad: For the first time in the last several years, Telangana is facing a drought, with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy himself acknowledging this on Wednesday.

Confirming that drought conditions were prevailing in the State, the Chief Minister called for a united fight, urging farmers raising demands for release of water from reservoirs to “understand the situation”. Assuring to stand by the farmers during difficult times while interacting with them after launching the ‘Rythu Nestham’ digital programme to connect Rythu Vedikas in the State through video-conferencing, Revanth Reddy said water shortage was acute at various places due to inadequate rainfall in the last one year, leading to depleting water levels in various reservoirs.

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Citing increasing demand from the erstwhile districts of Karimnagar, Khammam, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar for release of water from reservoirs to save crops, he urged the farmers to understand the prevailing conditions in the State. The State government was making arrangements to ensure that a drinking water crisis did not arise during the upcoming summer, he said.

Pointing out that the State was blessed with suitable land and climate to grow around 26 different types of crops, he suggested to the farmers to take up not only cultivation of paddy, cotton and chilly but also other crops which help to give more profits and yield. Crop rotation would help to reduce the water usage and investment burden on the farmers in the difficult times, he said, appealing to the farmers not to lose courage even during the hardships as the government was ready to support the entire farming community.

Earlier, the Chief Minister said the Rythu Nestham platform would help farmers get timely advice and updates from agricultural scientists and officials on a regular basis. The State government would come up with an action plan to ensure that farmers got remunerative prices for crops cultivated by them. Besides Rythu Bharosa investment support, crop loan waiver and crop procurement among others, he said the State government would continue to provide life insurance coverage for farmers under the Rythu Bima scheme. The State government had rejoined the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to ensure that farmers got back their investment amount during droughts and floods, he said.

The State government was initiating the ‘Rythu Nestham’ programme with an outlay of Rs.97 crore for installation of video conference units in 2,601 Rythu Vedikas in the next three years. In the first phase, about Rs.4.07 crore was released to install at least one unit each in 110 out of the total of 119 Asssembly constituencies. The digital platform would be a key enabler for farmers to make agriculture more profitable. They could also share their experiences with fellow farmers in other parts of the State, he said.

The Rythu Nestham programme will be conducted on every Tuesday and Friday with agriculture extension officers and farmers, in collaboration with Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, Agriculture Secretary M Raghunandan Rao and others participated in the programme from the State Secretariat, while the Chief Minister launched the programme from his residence.