291 mandals declared drought-hit in State

Amaravati: During this kharif season, drought hit the State drastically. As many as 291 mandals in State have been declared as drought-hit. In addition to the drought-affected mandals declared earlier, the State government on Friday announced 14 mandals as severe drought affected and 2 as moderate drought affected in Prakasam district.

The State government earlier on August 8 declared 274 mandals in the State as severe drought-affected and one mandal as moderate drought-hit.
All these mandals are in various districts including 54 severe affected and 2 as moderate affected in Prakasam, 45 severely hit mandals in Nellore, 58 severely-affected in Chittoor, 44 severely-hit in Anantapur, 50 severe and 1 moderately affected in Kadapa and 37 severely affected in Kurnool district during the kharif, 2018, officials informed.

Special Chief Secretary (Revenue Dept), Manmohan Singh, directed the District Collectors to take necessary action and notify the specific mandals and specific areas in the mandal and district gazettes to enable farmers to avail themselves of credit facilities and to take up relief operations. He released a Government Order No.8 on Friday, notifying 16 new mandals as draught affected.