Hyderabad, Nov 24 (IANS) The Telangana government on Tuesday declared 231 mandals in the state as drought affected and sought Rs.1,000 crore as immediate relief from the Centre.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao also urged the central government to send a team to assess the drought situation.
The decision to declare 231 mandals -- one third of the total mandals -- as drought affected was taken at a meeting chaired by the chief minister to review the situation.
Rainfall was normal only in Khammam and Adilabad districts. Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nizamabad and Ranga Reddy districts were totally drought affected. Partial drought prevailed in the districts of Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Warangal.
The chief minister told reporters that a delegation led by Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy will visit Delhi to submit to the Centre the list of drought affected mandals.
KCR said his government had embarked on redesigning of irrigation projects to find a permanent solution to the frequent droughts.
He said the government had also set a target of irrigating one crore acres of land by 2021.
