El Nino: Minister orders officials to assess situation daily

Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav confirmed the need for effective preparedness to deal with the El Nino situation and directed officials to monitor the prevailing situation in Anantapur district daily and submit regular reports. The Minister met District Collector O. Anand and officials from Agriculture, Horticulture, HNSS, HLC, Minor Irrigation, RWS and other departments on Monday to review the current El Niño conditions and drinking water supply.

On the occasion, Mr. Keshav directed that a liaison officer be appointed from the district to coordinate these conditions with senior officials in the state capital. He emphasized the need for constant monitoring of measures and progress within the departments and urged all officials to work responsibly and remain ready to deal with crisis situations resulting from El Niño.

Mr. Keshav ordered the HLC (High-Level Canal) system to be put on high alert and warned that no official under the jurisdiction of the HLC should be absent from duty. “Everyone must be available 24 hours a day and carelessness would not be tolerated,” he said, recalling his surprise inspection of a well supplying drinking water from the PABR Sri Rami Reddy Project dam to Uravakonda, where neither officials nor workers were present.

He reviewed the details regarding the HLC system, including the current water storage levels in the PABR dam, water availability limits, duration of supply, release schedule of Tungabhadra dam and inflow rate (in cusecs) from Tunga and Bhadra rivers to Tungabhadra dam.

Mr. Keshav directed that the drinking water tanks be filled within 25 to 30 days of the arrival of water from the HLC and insisted that a plan for this operation be prepared in advance.

Published – 20 Jul 2026 20:21 IST