With water in the Singur reservoir below dead storage, the Telangana government has released emergency funds for drinking water. Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply Minister Seethakka announced the steps after a teleconference with Mission Bhagiratha engineers on Saturday.
Funds and orders
- ₹120 crore for alternative drinking water in Sangareddy, Medak, Kamareddy and Nizamabad.
- ₹1 crore for each other district for immediate needs.
- Hire borewells and run tankers where there is a shortage.
- Finish recharge pits and magic soak pits within two days.
Singur supplies drinking water to parts of Hyderabad, to towns across erstwhile Medak and Nizamabad districts including Sangareddy, Kamareddy, Banswada, Jukkal, Yellareddy, Bodhan, Medak and Nizamabad, and to the Serilingampally and Patancheru areas.
The drought
The State declared 365 mandals in 31 districts drought-hit on October 27: 111 severe and 254 moderate. Rainfall from June 1 to September 30 was 615.5 mm against a normal 740.6 mm, a 17% deficit. Paddy area fell 18%, from 69.19 lakh acres to 57 lakh acres. Major and medium reservoirs hold 179.63 TMC against a capacity of 585 TMC. On September 18 the Assembly asked the Centre for a ₹20,000 crore special drought package.
The opposition's charge
BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy rejected the government's El Niño explanation. He alleged that nearly 1,000 TMC of Godavari water flowed downstream unused and called it a "Congress-induced drought". He demanded ₹50,000 an acre for every farmer whose crop dried up. BRS MLA K Sanjay challenged the CM to hold a "Water Summit" instead of a global investor summit.
