Telangana El Nino Jobs Scheme: Four Months of Work After Sankranti

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced a special four-month employment scheme for labourers, to begin after the Sankranti festival and run until May, as the state prepares for a drought linked to El Niño. He spoke at a meeting of ministers, Congress MPs, MLAs and MLCs at Praja Bhavan, according to reports by ANI and other outlets published on 24 October. The state will add its own money to Central funds for the work.

Daily Work for Labourers Through Summer

The scheme will focus on restoring access paths to farm fields, canals, ponds and small water bodies, and the government plans to create additional workdays under the existing employment guarantee scheme. Reports did not give wage rates, the number of workdays per person or eligibility rules, and no budget has been stated.

Farmers were asked to grow only rainfed crops and vegetables. Officials were told to set up fodder and drinking water centres for cattle in villages and to prioritise drinking water from the water that remains.

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Half the Pump Sets Have Stopped

Reddy said the drought could last eight to ten months. Of Telangana’s 30 lakh pump sets, 15 lakh have stopped working, he said, and storage in the state’s projects has fallen below 20% of capacity, with some reservoirs at dead storage. Available water is no more than 200 TMC, and irrigation water will not be released except for drinking, he added. Power demand has reached 20,000 MW.

Earlier this month he had urged farmers to skip rabi paddy, as IPB News reported. A reservoir storage report had already shown southern states short of water after the monsoon.

Cabinet Sub-Committee and Helpline Announced

The government will set up a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and a toll-free number for public grievances. K. Ramakrishna Rao has been named special officer for El Niño issues and for countering misinformation. A help desk will run at Gandhi Bhavan under MP Chamala Kiran, and cultural troupes will visit villages. Reddy said leaders should “educate farmers about the drought through Rythu Vedikas across the state”. The wage and eligibility details are yet to be announced.

Source: Based on reporting by The News Mill, Asianet Newsable (ANI) and Telangana Tribune.

Image: Telangana Tribune.