Untimely showers damage crops on 1.5lakh hectares in Maharashtra

According to preliminary estimates from 19 district administrations, crops on nearly 1.5 lakh hectares of land have been damaged due to the untimely heavy rains across the state in the last few days.

One third of the damage is in the Konkan belt alone where the state administration is expected to announce the interim relief in a few days.

After the chief minister ordered the state administration to conduct surveys in 19 affected districts on Monday, the relief and rehabilitation department apprised the CM with the preliminary estimate on Tuesday.

Since the state relief norms do not allow heavy rains to be considered as a natural calamity, immediate monetary relief is not provided for in the rules. Only the cabinet can take a decision about interim relief to be offered to the farmers who have suffered losses due to the rains.

The local administrations have been directed to start panchnamas of the damage to the crops, which are mostly to standing crops such as soyabean, paddy, jowar, grape and pomegranate. Nearly 57,000 hectares of land in the Konkan belt is estimated to have suffered losses due to rains.

“If the cabinet decides to offer relief of Rs2,000 per hectare in the Konkan, provision of Rs10 crore will need to be done,” said an official from the revenue department.

The revenue department has claimed that rainfall is a regular phenomenon during this period of the year. “Last year, we received 56 mm rainfall in the first fortnight of November, whereas this year it is merely 23 mm. Some districts, like Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri have recorded more than 122 mm. According to the relief and rehabilitation norms, relief cannot be offered for rainfall less than 65 mm in a period of 24 hours. Hence, the decision about interim relief has to be taken by the state cabinet,” said JS Sahariya, principal secretary, relief and rehabilitation.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, in two separate review meetings, took stock of the situation and directed the district administration to complete the panchnamas at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Monday’s rains caused havoc in agricultural fields throughout Nashik district, with onions, grapes and paddy being the worst hit. About 40,000 acres out of the 1.5 lakh acres under grape cultivation have suffered a 100% loss, estimated the Nashik branch of the Maharashtra Rajya Draksha Bagayitdar Sangh.

At places, thunderstorms caused berry dropping, at others hailstorms hit young plants. Water-logging in fields was so high that it was impossible to use tractors or machines to enter in the vineyards to assess or arrest the damage.

Pimpalgaon witnessed 65 mm of rain and Niphad 112 mm, while Dawatwadi had 72 mm in just a few hours. Niphad and Pimpalgaon have dense development of vineyards, and therefore have experienced extensive damage.

“The worst fear is spread of the Downy Milue disease caused by insects on the grape plants. The rains and moist weather result in this disease, which is very expensive to manage. This is now going to increase the cost of production,” said Pushkar Hingne, a farmer from Chandori.