Telangana: Rain wreak havoc for farmers in several districts

With rains last night and over the last couple of days wreaking havoc in agricultural areas in erstwhile Warangal, Karimnagar, erstwhile Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, Siddipet and Nalgonda districts.

Warangal/Karimnagar/Nalgonda: Heavy rains and strong winds continued to give nightmares for farmers in several districts, with rains last night and over the last couple of days wreaking havoc in agricultural areas in erstwhile Warangal, Karimnagar, erstwhile Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, Siddipet and Nalgonda districts.

Warangal

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In erstwhile Warangal, the rains spelt damage for the standing crops, mainly paddy in Jangaon and Mahabubabad districts on Tuesday night, while several other parts of the erstwhile Warangal district too recorded rainfall. Lightning strike killed 10 cattle including oxen at Lingala village of SS Tadwai mandal of Mulugu district on Tuesday evening. They were owned by one Chepala Sudhakar of the village.

Jangaon Collector Ch Shivalingaiah along with Additional Collector Praful Desai inspected the damaged crops at Kothaguda and Khilashapur of Raghunathpally on WednesdayThe Collector said he had appointed special officers to collect the data on the damage caused to the crops, property and animals.

“A comprehensive report on the damage will be submitted to the government to get the compensation. Farmers should not lose morale as the government will help them,” he said. Narmetta mandal in the district recorded the highest rainfall of 7.38 cm on Wednesday, while the lowest rainfall of 1.60 cm was recorded in Zaffergadh mandal.

Hanamkonda district collector Sikta Patnaik along with the officials inspected the crops in Ambala, Sriramulapally and Gudur villages of Kamalapur mandal in the district. She assured that the State government would provide financial assistance. “The Chief Secretary is monitoring the situation every day,” she said.

Karimnagar

The recent hailstorms have caused major damage in erstwhile Karimnagar. Besides property, standing crops were also damaged in a big way in Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jagtial and Rajanna-Sircilla districts.

Various crops spread in 44,000 acres were damaged in the rains earlier this month and also over the last couple of days in Karimnagar district. While 24,000 acres was affected in the earlier rains, 20,000 acres was damaged over the last few days.

In the 24,000 acres, paddy affected in 22,120 acres, Maize in 334 acres, mango and papaya in 1,172 acres and vegetables in 83 acres. Over the last few days, paddy was damaged in 17,963 acres followed by mango in 1,249 acres, maize in 303 acres and other crops.

In Peddapalli, crops were damaged in 28,910 acres during the two phases of the rain. Out of 6,910 acres of crop damage reported in the first round earlier this month, paddy was affected in 4,800 acres, maize in 1,900 and mango in 300 acres. In the second round of rains, damage was reported in 22,000 acres that includes paddy (18,000 acres), maize (1,600 acres) and mango (2,200 acres).

Paddy in 2,800 acres was affected in Rajanna-Sircilla district while mango crop was damaged in a big way in Jagtial district. Out of 42,774 acres of crop damage reported, mango was affected in 32,722 acres followed by paddy in 7,663, sesame in 2,190 and maize in 199 acres.

Nalgonda

Crops in 7,447 acres were damaged in Nalgonda district due to the heavy rain and hailstorm in April so far.

The district witnessed heavy rains and hail storms on April 3, 4, 21, 23 and 24. In the preliminary report, officials identified crops in 7,447 acres that were damaged more than 33 percent. According to the report, 7,447 acres including paddy in 6,810 acre, cotton in 30 acres, chillies in 61, castor in 27 acres, maize in 17 acres and horticulture crops in 502 acres were damaged in the district, which caused loss to 3,891 farmers in the district.

Crops in 4,907 acres were damaged due to heavy rains and hailstorms occurred on April 3 and 4 while crops in 2,540 acres were damaged due to heavy rain on April 21, 23 and 24.

In Suryapet district, the District Collector instructed agriculture officials to submit a report on crop damage by April 28. Officials were collecting details of farmers whose crop was damaged at the paddy procurement centres as well with the condition of considering the only token issued ones.