A three-member Central team on Thursday made a whirlwind tour of the drought- affected western mandals in Chittoor district. Farmers expressed their difficulties following the failure of monsoon, and alarming dip in the groundwater table.
The team comprising Amitav Chakravarthy, Mukesh Kumar and Victor Amit Raj, before commencing field visit, went through a photo exhibition depicting the drought scenario in the district.
When the team visited the Bogampalle tank amidst hillocks at Valmikipuram mandal of Madanapalle revenue division, it was brought to their notice that the tank went dry due to failure of rains, and this had endangered the prospects of farmers in about 500 hectares.
Fodder supply
At Tarigonda, dairy farmers sought setting up of cattle farms at the village level in view of fodder crisis. The team members formally launched the distribution of 70 tonnes of fodder to the dairy farmers here. They asked the animal husbandry officials to extend the facility not only to cows, but also to sheep.
In Kadapa district
Another central drought team led by senior official Rajiv Singhal visited parts of Kadapa district.
After photo exhibition on the ground situation, District Collector Ch. Hari Kiran narrated the plight of the district, most parts of which were reeling under the impact of drought. The team later visited parched fields, dried-up borewells and empty irrigation tanks and talked to stakeholders such as farmers, cattle rearers, farm labourers and officials to take stock of the situation in Ramapuram and Rayachoti mandals.
Assistance sought
Dried water tanks, borewells and vast tracts of fallow land greeted an inter-ministerial Central team, headed by Ministry of Agriculture’s Joint Secretary Neeraja Adidam that visited the drought-hit parts in the Udayagiri Assembly constituency of Kavali division in SRSP Nellore district.
Pouring out their woes, a group of farmers at Kaligiri said it was the fourth successive year of drought. They could not take up cultivation of even tobacco, they said.
Making a power-point presentation, Chief Planning Officer P.B.K. Murthy put the loss due to drought at ₹254.47 crore in the district and sought an immediate assistance of ₹70.34 crore to take up drought-relief measures in 46 mandals.
Input subsidy
Meanwhile, Prakasam district officials sought an immediate assistance of ₹308.62 crore as the team members visited the worst-affected Kondepi, Kanigiri and Pamuru mandals earlier.
As many as 1.62 lakh farmers had to be provided an input subsidy of ₹138.92 crore, while cattle farmers had to be provided ₹44.90 crore for arranging fodder and drinking water for animals to prevent a fall in the levels of milk production, the main source of income when crops failed, Prakasam Joint Collector S. Nagalakshmi explained to the team members.
