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Heavy rain in central and western Maharashtra damages crops on 7 lakh hectares
Over the past four days, the retreating monsoon has caused damages to harvest-ready crops across over 7 lakh hectares, in more than 10 districts in central and western
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Over the past four days, the retreating monsoon has caused damages to harvest-ready crops across over 7 lakh hectares, in more than 10 districts in central and western Maharashtra. The state has decided to approach the Centre for a relief package. Spot estimates of losses are underway.
After satisfactory rainfall this monsoon, farmers were expecting bumper crops until torrential rain hit these regions this week. In areas like Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed and Aurangabad, rain flattened standing crops like soya bean, cotton, gram, sugarcane, pomegranate across more than 7 lakh hectares. Cash crops, like cotton, soya bean and sugarcane, have suffered extensive damage. Solapur in western Maharashtra and Osmanabad in central Maharashtra are the worst-affected.
“The affected crop area in central Maharasthra is over 6 lakh hectare, while it’s more than 87,000 hectare in five districts of western Maharashtra according to preliminary estimates. The process of spot estimates of losses is underway and expected to take a few days. The state government compensates the farmers as per the National Disaster Response Fund norms, which ranges between ₹6,800 and ₹18,000 per hectare. The losses sustained by the farmers are much more than the compensation offered,” said an official from agriculture department.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray took a review of the estimated losses to crops, livestock, structure over the past four days. District collectors and divisional commissioners of the affected districts have been directed to complete spot assessments and release compensation at the earliest. The government has assured release of required funds at the earliest. “There is forecast of similar downpour next week in parts of the state. The district machinery should pre-empt the measures to ensure there is no loss of life. The evacuation of people from the low-lying areas should be done well in advance,” Thackeray said.
This week in five districts in western Maharashtra, 29 people died due to heavy rainfall and eight are still missing. Four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Solapur, Osmanabad and Baramati; and 40,036 people been evacuated. The figures for the other districts are not available yet. Rescue aircraft from the Indian Air Force are on standby to paralift from flooded areas. “With rainfall subsiding in most districts, and a forecast of reduction in rain over the next few days, we hope air lifting will not be required,” said an official from the state disaster management unit.
Previously, in June, the Konkan region sustained crop losses due to Cyclone Nisarga and in August, heavy rainfall affected crops across more than 1.80 lakh hectares in Vidarbha. The state has already raised a demand with the Centre for relief to affected farmers.
