Unseasonal rains damage crops in Khammam district

Khammam: unseasonal rains and hailstorm in different parts of the district on Sunday evening has badly damaged the winter crops.The unseasonal rains and hailstorm inflicted heavy loss on the standing and harvested crops, particularly paddy, corn and chilli, besides mango orchards.

 Asbestos roofs of several roadside shops and tiles of some houses in Kusumanchi and other towns were blown off as the district was lashed by rains accompanied by gusty winds on Sunday evening.During this rabi season, the farmers cultivated chilli crop in about 50,000 acres, paddy in about 80,000 acres and corn in about 45,000 acres.

The unseasonal rains came as a rude shock to farmers as their harvested crop stocked in the fields and standing crop in the fields was inundated  by heavy downpour in Bonakal, Mudigonda, Thirumalayapalem, Kusumanchi, Nelakondapalli, Madhira, Chintakani, Palair, Konijerla, Kamepalli, Raghunathapalem and several other mandals across the district.

The standing paddy crop which was ready for harvest fell to ground due to the gales in many mandals. In Konijerla mandal nearly 60 acres of chilli fields was damaged due to unexpected rains. Many mango trees in mandals like Chintakani, Thirumalayapalem, Kusumanchi and Khammam rural were uprooted While, several bags of chillies stocks kept on the premises of the agriculture market yard in Khammam were drenched.
 
Jinkkala Sambaiah, a farmer of Nayakangudem under Kusumanchi mandal said, “I expected a huge profit this time but the heavy winds have shattered my dreams.”He urged the State government to pay compensation to the affected farmers.

 Meanwhile, the officials were asked to be alert due to the possibility of more rain in the next few days. The district administration is preparing to dispatch teams comprising the officials of agriculture, horticulture and other departments to assess the impact of the unexpected showers at the field level.

The DOT centre Coordinator autioned the farmers of unseasonal rains. The teams will visit the villages and submit a report on the loss of crops.The Rythu Sangham leader K Rama Rao said the farmers demanded that the government come to the rescue of the farmers who are in distress. 
R Srinivas c