A stark reality got buried in the extravaganza of the Amaravati foundation laying ceremony. this was the severe drought in the Rayalaseema region. This is evident from the mandals chief minister Naidu himself declared as drought hit. The state government declared 196 mandals or sub-district clusters of 10 villages or more are drought affected in the state and 150 of the drought-affected mandals are from Rayalseema which 234 mandals. Among the Rayalaseema districts, Kurnool tops the list with 40 mandals while Anantapur and Chittoor stand next with 39 mandals each. In Kadapa 33 mandals are facing drought. There are 664 mandals in the state. Chief Minister Naidu said the assessment of rainfall this year show that 196 mandals are drought-affected and assured the people that his government was working on contingency plans.

Out of nine districts in coastal region the drought is felt in limited areas and that too in districts only. They are Prakasam (21), Nellore (14) and Srikakulam (10). During southwest monsoon season (June 1 to September 30), coastal Andhra Pradesh received 639.4 mm rainfall against the average of 580.8 mm, but Rayalaseema received 360.6 mm as against the average of 398.6 mm.

The Rayalaseema farmers have been agitating about the impending drought problem and release of water from Srisailam reservoir. They have been opposed to the release of water into Nagarjuna Sagar from dead storage of the reservoir which would deny the water for drinking purpose to the region.

Could it be the reason for lukewarm response for the celebrations of Amaravati on October 22. Past two or three months, there has been no talk of the looming drought in the corridors of power except world-class celebration of Amaravati splurging people’s money including that of people from Rayalaseema.