Maharashtra: Rains, hailstorm destroy crops in parts of Latur

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Heavy rains coupled with hailstorms and stormy winds damaged standing crops in several villages of Maharashtra's Latur district, an official said on Saturday.

Rains hit Nilanga, Ahmedpur, Chakur and Udgir talukas of the district during the day, the official said.

District Guardian Minister Girish Mahajan held a review meeting at the collector's office and directed officials to conduct panchanamas of the damages immediately, it was stated.

Renapur taluka and Janwal village and surrounding areas of Chakur tehsil received rains and hailstorm along with lightning and thunderstorm for more than an hour.

Standing crops ready for harvest were damaged because of the hailstorm, district superintendent and agriculture officer Dattatraya Gavsane said.

The hail also destroyed crops in Janwal of Chakur and Hali Handarguli in Udgir, he said.

The guardian minister also visited Renapur to inspect the crop damage in the region, it was stated.

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Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Sunday conducted a comprehensive review of the situation in the state following the unseasonal rains by holding a video conference with the District Collectors from Gandhinagar.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel got the preliminary details of other losses including loss of summer crops and fruit due to this unseasonal rain especially in Amreli, Junagadh as well as Saurashtra-Kutch, Central and North Gujarat.

He also directed the concerned District Collectors to conduct a preliminary survey of agricultural losses in their districts.

In this context, the District Collectors gave detailed information that teams have been deployed to survey the damage including crop damage in their district.

The Chief Minister while giving guidance to the District Collectors said that it is necessary to conduct the survey in such a way that no one is wronged in this survey and take appropriate action for payment as per the rules.

Patel also said, "The Central Meteorological Department has predicted changes in weather in the coming and hence advance planning for crop protection against the possible changes in the weather should be done."

Not only that, he urged to take precautions and safety measures to avoid human death or animal loss.

The Chief Secretary, while guiding the Collectors in this video conference, said that as part of precautionary measures against unseasonal rains, the measures to be taken for crop protection should be taken from the district level through Agri-Advisory in local publicity channels to ensure that the farmers are informed about the weather change in time.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during the assessment of seasonal rainfall stated that rainfall of 1 mm to 47 mm in 111 talukas of 27 districts of the state has been registered. Mainly there are 33 talukas of 18 districts, where more than 10 mm of rainfall has been recorded. Not only this, there was unseasonal rainfall in 27 districts from March 5 to March 9.

In this video conference, Chief Minister, Pankaj Joshi - Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, Kamal Dayani, Additional Chief Secretary of Revenue, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and Relief Commissioners of the concerned departments were present.

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