TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
BELGAUM: The unseasonal rains that caused havoc in the district for a week has not only caused damage to property, but has also caused heavy losses to farmers.
Deputy Commissioner N Jayram, who surveyed the district, informed that grapes and other rabbi crops in about 35,000 acres have been destroyed in the incessant hailstorm that hovered in Belgaum district like in Maharashtra. Many villages are facing power crisis as the electricity poles in many villages have uprooted and collapsed.
Deputy Commissioner Jayram has directed the senior taluka and district officials to carry out a detailed survey of the losses incurred due to the unseasonal rains. He also stated that the election code of conduct will not be a hindrance in reimbursing the farmers for their losses.
“The magnitude of the losses incurred in the district could be ascertained as a farmer incurs losses of about Rs 3 lakh if grapes in about an acre of land are destroyed. Grapes in about 500 acres of Athani taluka itself have been destroyed. Moreover, wheat, jowar and other rabbi crops in other parts of the district that were about to be harvested have been destroyed multiplying the magnitude of the losses that have occurred due to the calamity,” he said.
According to official sources, farmers in Chikkodi taluka have incurred losses of about Rs 1 crore. Apart from causing heavy damage to several houses in the district, a 14-year-old girl sustained injuries after a house collapsed in Hirekudi village of Chikkodi taluka.
