HYDERABAD
The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution unopposed requesting the Centre to sanction a ₹20,000 crore special relief package, among others, including an increase of the borrowing limit under the FRBM Act to the State – to tackle the conditions arising out of El Nino impact.
Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka moved the resolution towards the end of a short discussion on the effects of El Nino and remedial measures taken up by the House. In the resolution, the State government requested the Centre to declare the drought conditions arising out of El Nino impact in the State as a national calamity and provide necessary financial assistance for taking up relief measures.
Through the resolution, the State government requested the Centre to send a Central team at the earliest to study and assess the impact of El Nino, release funds from the National Calamity Fund, sanction crop loss compensation and input subsidy, release funds for drinking water supply and fodder to cattle and other animals.
Further, the Centre was urged to bear the entire expenditure for providing wage employment to the wage seekers under the VB G-RAM-G scheme by increasing the maximum days of wage employment from 125 to 175, increasing the labour component of it, sanction funds for taking up horticulture and vegetable crops.
The State also sought sanction of an additional 5 million tonnes of coal for thermal power generation, provide additional railway rakes for timely transportation of coal to the generating stations, provide relief from the power transmission charges and give additional assistance to the State under the Centrally-sponsored schemes.
On the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit, the State sought an increase in the borrowing limit from the present 3% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to 3.5% to take up relief measures more effectively.
The Deputy Chief Minister explained that the average rainfall deficit in the State from June 1 to September 16 was 20% and was forecast to increase further, with 19 out of 33 districts already recording deficit rainfall. As a result, the crop coverage during the ongoing Kharif season was only 88% of the normal extent of 139.29 lakh acres and the live storage of major reservoirs in the Krishna and Godavari Basins as on September 16 was only 241 tmc ft.
He stated that water availability in reservoirs was not sufficient for the Yasangi crop and water availability in minor irrigation tanks and ponds was also poor with groundwater table depleting constantly with increasing dependence on it for irrigation and drinking needs.
Published – September 18, 2026 09:02 pm IST
