The district administration is clueless on drought mandals in Krishna, Telugu Desam Party district president and Mylavaram MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao has said. This lack of concern from the administration was a matter of concern as no clear information was being provided in this regard, he said.
At a press conference here on Sunday, the TDP leader took objection to Secondary Education Minister K. Parthasarathy not paying any attention to the problems of farmers who were suffering crop losses because of dry spell over the past two months and its impact on cotton, sugarcane, chilli, and various other crops in upland areas.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said there were drought conditions in about 32 mandals in Krishna district but no efforts were being made from the Agriculture Department and the district administration to address the farmers' problems. He said the government had announced 450 mandals as drought-hit in the State but no mention was made of Krishna district.
Vegetable crops damaged
He said drought was witnessed in upland areas of Nandigama, Chandarlapadu, Nuzvid, Gannavaram, and others places and also in tail-end areas like Avanigadda and Pedana. There was no water in the canals and even vegetable crops were showing damage, he added.
Referring to the reports about Bhavani Island, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao accused the government of trying to give the island development project as a gift to an MLA close to actor Chiranjeevi for his gesture in merging his Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress. Mr. Rao alleged that the land belongs to the Irrigation Department and that it would violate the 1884 River Conservation Act.
