HYDERABAD: The state government on Thursday directed the collectors of
all the districts to get ready with contingency plans for a possible drinking water and fodder crisis in areas that did not receive sufficient rainfall in the south-west monsoon.

The officials were also directed to persuade the farmers to opt for
short-duration crops under major dams were the water level to show no
improvement by August 15.

This year, Andhra Pradesh is passing
through a peculiar situation wherein the same mandal contains
drought-affected and rain-lashed areas. Even though some mandals have
received normal rainfall, many villages in such mandals have been found
to be staring at a drought-like situation.

According to revenue
minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who reviewed the situation in the state
with district officials via video conference on Thursday, out of 1,128
mandals in the state, 28 fall in the scanty rainfall category where the
shortage is 60% to 99% of the normal.However, another 321 mandals have recorded less than normal rainfall, that is, minus 20% to minus 59% from the usual.

As of Wednesday, Nalgonda (21%), Nizamabad (24%), Anantapur (31%) and
Visakhapatnam (21.2%) are the AP districts to have reported deficit
rainfall. Due to the extreme variations in rainfall, the government has
instructed collectors to prepare contingency plans by taking the village
as a unit. “There are many mandals in the state where farming is on in
full swing in one area while in the other, no sowing has yet taken
place,” Raghuveera Reddy said.

Raghuveera, who reviewed the situation along with agriculture minister
Kanna Lakshminarayana and municipal minister M Mahidhar Reddy, said that
Rs 45 crore has been released towards provision of drinking water in
mandals likely to face drinking water problems.The minister
hoped that the situation in AP reservoirs would improve over the next
four to five days. “The reservoirs at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar are
expected to get water by August 15,” the minister said.

He said
that on the apprehension that a critical situation might develop, a
contingency plan had been drawn up in June itself. “If there is no
improvement in the water levels in the reservoirs in question, the
farmer will have no option but to go in for alternative crops for which
the fertilizers and seeds have been kept ready,” Raghuveera said.

Meanwhile, the water level in Krishna reservoirs in Karanataka has
greatly improved unlike the situation in Tungabhadra. According to
sources in the central water commission, as of August 8, the water level
in Tungabhadra was 492.83m while the full reservoir level was 497.94m.
Almatti is almost full to the brim at 518.70m while the FRL is 519.60.

Sources said that water is being released into the Krishna which will first reach Jurala Project and then come to Srisailam.