None of the districts in the state of AP featured among the 400 districts in the country which were declared as drought-affected by the central government.

232 mandals in the state are still reeling under severe deficit of rainfall- between 20 and 59 percent. The rainfall deficit has affected over 10 lakh hectares of rain-fed cropland.

Mandals from our state did not figure in this list for the simple reason ‘they do not fall under the parameters set by the Centre for declaring them as drought-affected’ . Only those districts having a rain deficit of more than 50 percent till July 15 qualified for the same. Rainfall deficit in Anantapur, the most rain-starved district in the state, measures only 47 percent.

Govt. woke up late and asked Officials to prepare a contingency plan for alternative crops that require less water and to publicise them among the rural folk, if the expected rains are not received by August 15. More than 70% of the pay transplantation in Krishna Delta have been stalled for lack of water.

Agriculture minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, and principal secretary (agriculture) V Nagi Reddy are planning to go to Delhi and take up the issue with the agriculture minister to ensure that AP gets the needed help. They also wanted them to explain in detail to the Union Govt. officials about the low water levels in the Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Sriramsagar dams.