Civil Supplies and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Kamlakar inspecting the damaged paddy crop at Bahadurkhanpet village in Karimnagar rural division on Sunday.
Several parts of the old undivided Karimnagar district received unusual rain accompanied by strong winds and hailstorm on Saturday night, causing widespread damage to paddy, mango, chilli and other crops in Chopdandi, Gangadhara, Karimnagar Rural, Huzurabad and several other mandals.
Paddy and mango growers have to bear the brunt of nature’s fury for the second time this summer after witnessing similar devastation caused by nature’s fury last month.
According to preliminary estimates, paddy crops in a little over 5,000 acres were completely damaged in various villages including Chamanpalli, Cherlabuthkur, Mukdumpur and Jublinagar in Karimnagar rural mandal alone. Hailstorms reportedly wreaked havoc in several mango orchards amid the summer season, dashing hopes of mango growers for a good harvest.
Incidents of widespread damage to paddy, maize, mango and other crops were also reported from several villages in Jagtial, Mahbubabad, Jangaon and other districts where unseasonal rain and hailstorm lashed Saturday night.
death by lightning
In separate incidents, a toddy tapper and a youth were killed in lightning strikes near Kondagattu in Jagtial district and Turkala Maddikunta village in Peddapalli district late Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, Civil Supplies and Backward Classes Welfare Minister G Kamlakar visited some of the rain-affected villages in Karimnagar rural mandal on Sunday. He took stock of the situation and interacted with the farmers who were troubled by the rains.
When a distressed farmer narrated the devastation of the hailstorm that destroyed the paddy crop in 25 acres of leased land, the minister assured all possible help from the state government.
The minister said that the state government has already released Rs 8.50 crore as relief for crop damage caused during unseasonal rains in the district and the amount would be paid soon to the rain-affected farmers.
He said that the calculation of crop loss in the fresh spell of unseasonal rains and hailstorm would be completed expeditiously in two to three days and the report would be submitted to the state government to ensure relief to the rain-affected farmers at the earliest.
He said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao visited some rain/hail ravaged agriculture and horticulture areas in the district last month and sanctioned a relief of Rs 10,000 per acre to rain-affected farmers.
Early opening of paddy procurement centers on 10th April this year helped in mitigating the damage caused by Saturday’s rain/hail to some extent.
He further said that instructions have been issued to the Civil Supplies Department for the purchase of paddy soaked in unseasonal rains.