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Unseasonal rains damage crops in Telangana: Officials
According to the preliminary reports from district collectors, there was a crop loss to 1.50 lakh acres belonging to 80,000 farmers.
Unseasonal rains for the last three days have led to crop loss in about 150,000 acres across Telangana, according to preliminary reports, the state government said on Monday.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator and Telangana State Rythu Bandhu Samithi president Palla Rajeshwar Reddy told reporters that the unexpected rains due to the trough over the state wreaked havoc with the standing crops of the Rabi season.
“According to the preliminary reports from district collectors, there was a crop loss to 1.50 lakh acres belonging to 80,000 farmers. There are 2,603 agriculture clusters in the state, and the authorities are preparing cluster-wise reports about the actual crop loss,” Reddy said.
Stating that it was unfortunate that the farmers had suffered heavy losses due to these rains, the Rythu Bandhu Samithi president said he, along with senior officials and local representatives, had personally inspected the damaged crops.
“Once we get the final reports from the collectors, the government will take up relief measures,” he said.
Reddy demanded that the Centre should send its teams to assess the damage caused to the crops due to the rains. He alleged that during the monsoon, when there was a crop loss of ₹7,000 crore, the Centre had given just ₹250 crore.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay demanded that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announce compensation to the farmers who have lost their crops due to unseasonal rains accompanied by hailstorms.
In a letter to the chief minister on Monday, Sanjay said according to ground reports, there was a crop loss in more than five lakh acres of crops in about 13 districts.
He said chilli and mango farmers were the worst affected due to rains and hailstorms and added that about 40,000 acres of mango crop has been damaged due to rains.
He alleged that since the Telangana government was not implementing crop insurance schemes of the Centre, farmers were not getting crop insurance for the damages caused due to rains. He demanded that a comprehensive crop insurance scheme should be implemented immediately to help the farmers who suffered losses due to untimely rains.
