Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday, 1 June directed state officials to proactively inform farmers about potential drought-like conditions, citing the impact of El Niño on the upcoming monsoon season. The directive came during a high-level monsoon preparedness review meeting held at the State Secretariat in Hyderabad, attended by officials from over eight departments.

Key Directives to Officials

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy instructed officials to educate farmers on cultivating crops that require minimal water consumption. He also stressed the importance of crop rotation and crop diversification as adaptive strategies against erratic rainfall. The meeting included a presentation by officials from the Meteorological Department covering Southwest monsoon rainfall patterns, El Niño effects, and associated climatic risks.

Irrigation and Infrastructure on War Footing

The Chief Minister reviewed the status of maintenance works across irrigation projects, directing officials to complete repairs to project gates and related infrastructure on a war footing. He ordered the immediate release of funds for irrigation maintenance, as well as for the repair of damaged roads and reconstruction of collapsed bridges. The ₹1,000 crore corpus held by the Disaster Management Department is to be deployed strictly in line with established regulations.

Centre Sought for Full Ramagundam Fertiliser Allocation

It was decided at the meeting that the state government will write to the Central Government requesting that the entire urea output from the Ramagundam Fertilizers Factory be allocated exclusively to Telangana. This move is aimed at ensuring adequate fertiliser availability for farmers ahead of the kharif sowing season, which is directly tied to monsoon onset.

Disaster Response and Coordination Framework

Reddy emphasised that officials must respond immediately to any loss of life, property, or livestock during natural disasters. At the district level, operations are to be coordinated between the Collector and the Superintendent of Police (SP). Within the Core Urban Region Economy (CURE) jurisdiction, the Commissioners of the three corporations and their respective Police Commissioners must operate in tandem. Periodic meetings are also mandated to address public grievances in a time-bound manner.

The review was attended by officials from the Departments of Agriculture, Irrigation, Urban Development, Panchayat Raj, Health, Home, HYDRAA, Disaster Management, and Fire Services. With El Niño conditions potentially disrupting the Southwest monsoon, Telangana's preparedness framework will be closely watched as the season progresses.