With bountiful rains, farming picks up pace in Palamuru region

Mahabubnagar: With incessant rains for the past 2 days filling up the small and big ponds, lakes and reservoirs across Palamuru region, the farmers has intensified their agriculture activity and busy tilling and cultivating the agriculture fields.

Farmers across all the 5 district including Mahabubnagar, Wanaparthy, Gadwal, Nagarkurnool and Narayanpet, districts are in full swing preparing for the cultivation of paddy, maize, cotton, pulses and other crops. With rains filling up the ponds and lakes the small and big rivulets are flowing heavily and it has helped the paddy farmers to intensify their paddy filed preparations in full swing and almost in every region the farmers have sown the seedling beds and getting ready for transplanting the paddy saplings.

Bheema Nayak of Shankarayapally village in Jadcherla mandal says that he is happy to see heavy rains this season.

Though the beginning was not so encouraging but during this 'Pedda Pusala Karte' bountiful rains have made him happy as he will sow paddy. "Last two seasons I have not grown paddy for two reasons. One is the government itself discouraged and the second is there were not enough rains and the water sources have steeply gone down and could not take up paddy cultivation. This season I am planning to cultivate paddy over 2 acres of land," said Bheema Nayak.

Apart from paddy, Bheema Nayak has also sown cotton, jawar and vegetables on his remaining 3 acres of land.

According to metrological department all the 16 mandals in Mahbubnagar district have received moderate to heavy rainfall and recorded a total of 736.4 millimeters of rainfall in just 24 hours. On an average the entire district has received about 46 millimeters of rainfall, which is more than average during this month. The mandals which received heavy rainfall include Bhootpur, Mahabubnagar rural, Mahabubnagar Urbal and Jadcherla mandals with 69, 64, 68, 64 millimeters of rainfall respectively.

Apart from the remnant Mahbubnagar district, the other areas which received heavy rainfall include Nagarkurnool with total of 706 millimeters and average of 35.3 millimeters. Among all the 4 divisions Kollapur division received least rainfall with just 63.8 millimeters and Kalwakurthy division revived maximum rainfall of 266 millimeters.

While the rains are pouring heavily, agriculture activitiy are on positive side, however the other negative aspect of spreading of vector born and other water born diseases are said to be slowly increasing. The health departments of all the districts have been alerted by the respective district collectors and have been asked to be vigilant and take immediate measures to ensure diseases do not spread.

The roads in almost all the 4 districts have been in apathetic condition, where in all the low lying areas are reeling under heavy flood waters with traffic jammed in many places. A school bus was trapped under the railway bridge at Sugur Gadda tanda of Ramachandrapuram village in Mahbubnagar due to heavy logging of water and the locals struggled to rescue the school children from the bus.