Jaipur, Oct. 27 -- The state government has declared drought-like conditions in 80 tehsils across fourteen districts following reports of reduced water availability and damage to the kharif crop due to deficient rainfall. Two notifications issued by the disaster management, relief and civil defence department on October 24 and 25 classified 69 tehsils as severely drought-affected and 11 as moderately affected. The declarations will remain effective for six months from publication. The districts covered are Banswara, Barmer, Balotra, Bikaner, Churu, Dungarpur, Beawar, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Phalodi, Nagaur, Pali and Sirohi. The first notification covered 53 tehsils across 13 districts. The second added 27 tehsils across 10 districts, including Bikaner wherein 25 were classified as severely affected. The notifications said that the assessment considered deficient rainfall, reduced surface and groundwater availability, poor crop conditions and information from the Centre's Drought Monitoring Portal. Jodhpur has 12 affected tehsils, out of which 11 were classified within the severe range, Barmer and Jalore have 10 each, Balotra has nine, Pali has eight, and Dungarpur, Jaisalmer and Phalodi have seven each. Banswara has three, Churu and Beawar have two each, while Bikaner, Nagaur and Sirohi have one each. All 10 listed tehsils in Barmer-Gadra Road, Chohtan, Barmer, Baytoo, Sedwa, Ramsar, Sheo, Dhanau, Barmer Rural and Batadu-are severely affected. Jalore's 10 tehsils-Ahore, Chitalwana, Jaswantpura, Bagoda, Bhinmal, Raniwara, Sanchore, Sayla, Bhadrajun and Jalore-are also in the severe category. According to a September 30 report by the state water resources department, Rajasthan received 350.83 mm of rainfall between June 1 and September 30 against a normal 424.71 mm-a shortfall of 73.88 mm, or 17.4%. The report classified 14 of the state's 41 districts as rainfall-deficient, including Balotra, Banswara, Dungarpur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Pali and Sirohi. It logged water storage in the state's 693 monitored dams at 62.16% of combined capacity, compared with 90.19% on the corresponding date last year. In the WRD's Jodhpur zone, storage stood at just 15.98%, against 80.45% a year earlier. Former CM Ashok Gehlot has repeatedly accused the state government of failing to respond adequately to shortages of water and fodder in Marwar and other parts of Rajasthan....