Rains batter paddy, mango crops in Palamuru

Mahbubnagar: The sudden rains in erstwhile Mahbubnagar have created havoc in the district by damaging the paddy and mango crops to a very large extent. The rains along with the hailstorm amd strong winds destroyed thousands the paddy crop and mango plantation in thousands of acres in Devarkadra, Makthal, Marikal, Wanaparthy and Jadcherla areas of erstwhile Mahbubnagar on Monday.

In Jadcherla mandal of Mahbubnagar district, heavy downpour and hail storm destroyed hundreds of acres of standing paddy crop which was about to be harvested. "I had sown paddy in three acres. Already the crop was pale due to inadequate water and on the top of it, the hailstorm has destroyed the entire crop. I have incurred a loss of 1.5 lakh," lamented Hemla Nayak of Mangalikunta village of Jadcherla mandal.

In Atmakur mandal of Wanaparthy district, the paddy farmers who had stocked their harvested paddy crop at the market yard were in tears after the Monday's rains damaged the produce. " We had feared this. Despite our repeated requests to the authorities to procure the paddy crop, they kept us waiting, and now with no proper stocking Godowns facility, our entire paddy crop has been washed away in rains," Narasimhaiah, a paddy farmer from Atmakur said pouring out his woes.

In Gadwal mandal, the strong winds have uprooted trees which fell on the electrical wires passing underneath them. With this, electrical polls were broken leading to grounding of transformers. This has interrupted the power supply in Gadwal for more than 12 hours.

In Devarkadra also, heavy rains gave a tough time to farmers who had brought paddy to the market yard. While a few were smart to cover their paddy heaps with Tarpaulin sheets, while a few struggled to save their hard harvested produce.

In Marikal and Makthal mandals of Narayanpet district the situation was no different. Large sects of paddy crop in these two mandals was also grounded due to heavy unseasonal rains and hailstorm. Overall, the unseasonal rains have caused an estimated loss of Rs 100 crore in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district, observed agricultural experts in the district.