63 more mandals to be declared as drought-hit

HYDERABAD: Revenue minister N Raghuveera Reddy on Saturday directed the senior officials concerned to ensure that the district collectors send reports on crop loss to the state capital in a week. The Assembly session scheduled to begin on December 1, will first take up drought in the state for discussion.The revenue minister held a highlevel meeting in his chambers in the secretariat this evening on drought and crop loss. He said the number of droughthit mandals would increase to 772 as the state government received proposals for inclusion of 63 more mandals of five districts in the list. In all, 709 mandals in 22 districts have been declared drought affected so far.An order will be issued in a couple of days declaring 63 more mandals drought hit taking the total to 772, he said. The officials informed the minister that reports pertaining to crop loss in 13 districts were ready. The assessment of crop loss is getting delayed due to rise in the number of droughtaffected mandals. Raghuveera Reddy also reviewed the new land allotment policy on which chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy convened an allparty meeting on December 28. The meeting is intended to elicit the views of various political parties before finalising the new land allotment policy. The minister also directed the officials to take steps to introduce a bill in the Assembly session to replace the ordinance pertaining to tenant farmers.