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The people’s newsroom

StatesTelangana

Telangana sets up six-minister panel on El Nino as Krishna basin storage runs 72% low

Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka will lead a cabinet sub-committee on drinking water and rainwater harvesting, with about 10 lakh acres of crops said to be at risk.

From the editorial desk · HyderabadPublished
Nagarjuna Sagar dam on the Krishna river (file photo)
Nagarjuna Sagar dam on the Krishna river (file photo)Photo: iMahesh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key points

  1. A six-member cabinet sub-committee under Bhatti Vikramarka will tackle El Nino's impact.
  2. Water levels are 72% lower in the Krishna basin and 40% lower in the Godavari basin.
  3. An all-party meeting on the crisis is planned after Dasara.

Telangana has set up a six-member cabinet sub-committee to deal with the fallout of El Nino, as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy warned that reservoirs in the Krishna basin are holding 72% less water than they should at this time of year.

The panel, announced on Monday, will be headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu. Its members are Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, Women and Child Welfare Minister Dasari Anasuya and Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Vakiti Srihari.

Its first task is drinking water. The sub-committee has been asked to draw up measures to keep supplies running in towns and villages across the state, with priority for digging and maintaining percolation pits, ponds and seepage ponds to capture whatever rain falls.

The numbers behind the alarm are stark. Revanth Reddy has said storage in the Godavari basin is 40% below normal as well, and reports placed before him put about 10 lakh acres of standing crops at high risk of damage. The Chief Minister has described El Nino as a “natural disaster” for the state.

The El Nino pattern, a warming of the Pacific Ocean, tends to weaken rainfall over India, and Telangana’s officials warned last week that its impact would peak by February.

“The government will hold an all-party meeting after Dasara to seek suggestions on tackling the El Nino impact,” Revanth Reddy said. Dussehra falls on Tuesday; no date has yet been announced for the meeting.