Telangana seeks ₹20,000 cr. package from mid to El Nino impact

HYDERABAD

The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Friday passed an unopposed resolution demanding that the Center approve a special relief package of ₹20,000 crore, including an increase in the borrowing limit under the FRBM Act for the state – to deal with conditions arising from the impact of El Nino.

Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka moved the resolution to the end of a brief discussion on the effects of El Nino and remedial measures taken by the House. In a resolution, the state government asked the Center to declare the drought resulting from the impact of El Nino in the state as a national calamity and provide necessary financial assistance to take relief measures.

Through a resolution, the state government has asked the Center to send a central team as soon as possible to study and assess the impact of El Nino, release funds from the National Calamity Fund, approve compensation for crop loss and input subsidy, release funds for supply of drinking water and fodder for cattle and other animals.

Further, the center was asked to bear all the expenses of providing wage employment to wage seekers under the VB G-RAM-G scheme by increasing the maximum number of days of wage employment from 125 to 175, increasing its labor component, sanctioning funds for horticulture and vegetable cultivation.

The state also demanded a sanction of an additional 5 million tonnes of coal for thermal power generation, to provide additional rail rakes for timely transportation of coal to power plants, to provide relief from power transmission charges and to provide additional assistance to the state under centrally sponsored schemes.

For the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit, the state sought to increase the borrowing limit from the current 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 3.5% in order to more effectively adopt relief measures.

The Deputy Chief Minister explained that the average rainfall deficit in the state from June 1 to September 16 was 20% and was forecast to increase further with 19 out of 33 districts already showing rainfall deficit. As a result, crop coverage during the ongoing Kharif season was only 88% of the normal extent of 139.29 lakh acres and the live stocks of major reservoirs in the Krishna and Godavari basins stood at only 241 tmc ft as on September 16.

He stated that the availability of water in reservoirs was not sufficient for the Yasangi crop and water availability in smaller irrigation tanks and ponds was also poor as the water table was constantly depleting with increasing dependence on irrigation and drinking.

Published – 18 Sep 2026 21:02 IST