A cabinet subcommittee is trying to develop a departmental plan to deal with the El Nino-induced drought
Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, who is chairing a meeting of the cabinet’s sub-committee on drought and El Nino conditions in Hyderabad on Friday. | Photo credit: By arrangement
HYDERABAD
The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Drought and El Nino Conditions, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, on Friday decided to prepare a comprehensive action plan for individual departments to deal with drought caused by El Nino conditions.
The plans will focus on securing drinking and irrigation water supply and providing uninterrupted electricity, support to agriculture and rural employment so that people do not face hardship in the coming days.
The first meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee to review the drought and El Nino situation in the state and recommend appropriate measures to the government was held here on Friday (October 23). The meeting mainly discussed the impact of El Nino and drought in various parts of the state, availability of water, relief measures for farmers and future action plans.
The meeting was attended by members of the sub-committee and ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, D. Seethakka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Vakiti Srihari along with chief secretary Sanjay Jaju and secretaries of the respective departments.
Mr. Vikramarka asked the officials to scientifically evaluate the drought conditions and examine the mandals eligible for declaration as drought-affected areas as per the prescribed guidelines. He emphasized that the government’s priority is to minimize the effects of the drought and ensure the timely delivery of needed assistance to the people through coordinated efforts.
He directed officials to assess not only areas already suffering from severe drought but also mandals where the impact of drought exceeds 20%. A preliminary assessment of the likely impact of the drought on various sectors would help the government provide timely relief to the needy, he said.
He suggested that each department should identify challenges and prepare a clear action plan to address them. He asked officials to anticipate challenges in the power sector arising from El Nino conditions and take measures in advance.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked the District Collectors to conduct weekly review meetings with the officials concerned to monitor the measures being put in place to deal with the drought conditions. Mr. Nageswara Rao said that farmers and people in general should be informed about the ground situation. He suggested that weekly reports containing data on groundwater levels, rising summer temperatures and other relevant indicators should be issued at the district level.
Ms. Seethakka called for allocation of special emergency funds to district collectors and ITDA project officers to take up drought-related works of ₹7,000 crore.
358 mandalas affected
Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju said each of them had already been released to the district collectors under emergency funds to deal with the prevailing situation. Based on preliminary assessments, drought conditions have been identified in 358 mandals, taking into account parameters such as deficient rainfall and crop coverage falling below 50%.
Published – 23 Oct 2026 22:09 IST