YSRCP protests against exclusion of Nellore from drought-hit mandals

YSRCP district president and former agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, along with MLC Parvatha Reddy Chandrasekhar Reddy, present a representation to district collector Himanshu Shukla at the Collectorate in Nellore on Monday. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Monday criticized the government for excluding SPSR Nellore district from the state’s list of 388 drought-affected mandals, alleging that some mandals have been witnessing severe rainfall-deficiency conditions.

The opposition party demanded that 35 rainfall deficit mandals of the district be restored and alleged that the district officials gave strange reasons for not including the rainfall deficit mandals.

YSRCP district president and former agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy along with MLC Parvathareddy Chandrasekhar Reddy, Anam Vijayakumar Reddy, Buduru Guravaiah, leaders of affiliated organizations and activists made a representation to District Collector Himanshu Shukla at the Collectorate in Nellore on Monday.

“Amid prevailing El Niño conditions, the state government should include 35 rainfall deficient mandals from Nellore district in the list of drought-affected mandals. The district officials have delayed sending proposals to the government and are giving strange reasons for not including these mandals in the list,” Mr. Kakani said.

According to field reports from district officials, a high-level committee prepared a list of drought-affected mandals on September 30. The decision was based on the deficit rainfall experienced during the southwest monsoon (Kharif) season. According to the three-tiered evaluation mechanism, only those mandals which recorded more than 50% rainfall deficit were included in the list.

Speaking to The Hindu, District Agriculture Officer (DAO) P. Satyavani said, “Our department has identified 30 mandals in the district and sent proposals to the government. However, the drought assessment is based on various parameters such as rainfall deficit, dry season, area under sown crop, soil moisture stress, remote sensing, hydrology and yield loss criteria below 50%.”

“Though 26 mandals met the tier-1 and tier-2 parameters, none of the mandals in the district qualified under the yield loss parameter below tier-3. Thus, none of the mandals in the district met the drought parameters to be declared on the drought-affected list,” she informed.

Published – 5 Oct 2026 19:28 IST