Hyderabad: While praising the initiatives of the state government in mitigating drought in the state and progress in micro and drip irrigation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed NITI Aayog to set up a task force in consultation with the state government to comprehensively study the economic impact of drip irrigation and how technology can be used for crop insurance. In Delhi on Tuesday, he discussed the drought situation for about an hour with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
After the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a press release said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the drought and water scarcity situation in parts of AP. The meeting was attended by AP CM Naidu and the officials of both state and central governments.
Read: Drought affects 2.35 crore people in Andhra Pradesh, says report
According to PMO release, an amount of Rs 315.95 crore has been released to AP under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), after adjustments of the state balances. This is in addition to Rs 330 crore released as central share of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2015-16 to the state. A further amount of Rs 173.25 crore has been released as first instalment of SDRF for 2016-17.
Chief Minister Naidu described the state’s efforts in building check dams, reviving lift irrigation schemes and deploying mobile sprinkler units (rain guns) as part of the drought mitigation effort. He mentioned the state's progress in micro-irrigation. The state has a target of 20 lakh hectares for micro irrigation by 2022. Global best practices and research in the field came up for discussion at the meeting.
Read: AP officials told to see that ‘drought’ word is banished
Appreciating the state’s efforts in micro-irrigation, the Prime Minister directed setting up of a task force to comprehensively study the economic impact of drip irrigation in the states of Maharashtra, AP and Gujarat, on various parameters such as water saving, enhanced productivity and savings in terms of reduced input costs of fertiliser, pesticide and labour.
The Chief Minister, praising the Prime Minister for his initiatives of neem coating of urea and the assistance of Rs 1,500 per tonne offered for compost made from municipal solid waste, stated that these will go a long way in improving soil health and checking the diversion of urea.
Read: Karnataka releases 1 TMC ft water to drought-hit Telangana
The Chief Minister also made a brief presentation on how the state government is using technology to get real-time updates on water and agriculture from the field. Appreciating these innovations, the Prime Minister urged the NITI Aayog to set up a task force in consultation with the state that could come up with a model on how to use technology for crop insurance.
Action plan with Rs 2,000 crore:
After the meeting with the Prime Minister, AP Chief Minister Naidu told the media that the state government has prepared action plan with Rs 2,000 crore to face the drought situation in the state.
CM Naidu said that the Centre released Rs 433 crore under NDRF against the state government’s request of Rs 2,000 crore. To a question, Mr Naidu said he did not ask the Prime Minister about additional funds. Mr Naidu said the state government is supplying drinking water through tankers in 973 villages and 61 municipalities. He said the state government has decided to release Rs 737 crore as input subsidy to the farmers.
Mr Naidu said the state government is planning to divert about 80 TMC to 100 TMC of Godavari water to Krishna through Pattiseema Project. Mr Naidu said the Prime Minister felt happy for the details explained by him regarding drought mitigation in the state.
