States start survey of crop damage due to rains, hailstorm

Untimely rains and hailstorms over the past few days damaged crops in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and other parts of northern India.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday asked state governments to provide immediate relief to farmers from their respective State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) after conducting the crop survey. The central government can provide more funds from the National Disaster Relief Fund after the submission of a memorandum, he said.

Also Read: Unseasonal rainfall: Six districts of Marathwada face crop losses on more than 62K hectares of land

Wheat is the main rabi crop, harvesting of which is underway in some states. Mustard and chickpea are other major rabi crops. On Monday, the central government said there is no concern about mustard and chickpea (chana) crops as most of it has been harvested, but localised hailstorms might have affected some crops like banana and potato.

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy met senior officials and sought details of the crop loss caused by the unseasonal rains. He asked them to start enumeration of crop losses immediately. All the district collectors were ordered to complete the enumeration in a week.

In Telangana, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao ordered the concerned district ministers, chief secretary and agriculture department officials to procure the details of crop damages caused by hailstorms. Rao is expected to visit some of the affected areas for crop inspection on Wednesday. Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay said that, according to his information, crops in five lakh acres were damaged in the state. In an open letter to the CM, he blamed Rao for Telangana “lacking a comprehensive crop insurance scheme to shield the ryots from such disasters.”

Also Read: Hailstorm damages crops in North Karnataka districts; man dies in lighting strike in Bidar

In Gujarat, CM Bhupendra Patel on Sunday instructed district collectors to assess the damage caused by the rains. The worst affected districts are in Saurashtra and north Gujarat. Teams will survey the damage in 27 districts that received rains from 1 mm to 48 mm. Government data stated that 18 districts have recorded over 10 mm of rainfall which has left standing Rabi crops damaged. Earlier this month, the Patel government also announced a special package for affected onion and potato farmers.

Unseasonal rains affected crops in the five regions of Maharashtra - Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Vidarbha.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has asked the district collectors to ensure that panchanamas are carried out so that help could be
provided to the affected farmers.