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Telangana Chief Minister KCR to visit hailstorm affected districts to assess damage

Though it has not been decided if he would visit on Tuesday or Wednesday, he has sought reports on the damage from officials.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Mar 21, 2023 | 11:59 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 21, 2023 | 11:59 AM

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao held a meeting at Pragathi Bhavan. (Supplied)

After untimely hailstorms left a trail of destruction of crops in the state, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has decided to visit the most affected districts to make an assessment of the damage.

Though it has not been decided whether he would undertake his visit on Tuesday, 21 March, or Wednesday, he has requisitioned reports on the damage from the officials.

According to an official press release, the chief minister has asked ministers from the districts affected, the chief secretary, and agriculture department officials to get reports on the damage from the districts. After going through the reports, the chief minister might leave for his tour of the districts.

Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao will visit the districts affected by hailstorm on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hon'ble CM instructed the Ministers from the affected districts, Chief Secretary and the officials of Agriculture Dept. to gather the details of hailstorm impact.

— Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) March 21, 2023

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Hailstones caused severe damage

In several districts, the recent hailstorm and the accompaniment of hailstones caused severe damage.

The hailstorms that had ravaged Telangana for three days had affected maize, paddy, chilly, groundnut, and cotton crops.

The unseasonal rain had also damaged vegetable crops like tomato, okra (ladies finger), onions, eggplant (brinjal), and fruit-bearing crops like mango and papaya. The preliminary estimates put crops in about more than 2.5 lakh acres.

With the Opposition parties already fanning out to districts to interact with farmers, the BRS too is trying to be in their midst and share their grief over the loss they had incurred.

In fact, the BRS working president, in a teleconference with state ministers, MLAs, and other functionaries of the party on Monday, asked them to be with the farmers and reassure them that the government would stand by them.

Warangal worst affected

According to sources, the worst affected district is Warangal where crops on about 60,000 acres were damaged.

Other districts which bore the brunt of the rains were the erstwhile Karimnagar and Nalgonda districts.

Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy who is on his padayatra in north Telangana had already visited the affected corps in the Nizamabad district.

In the Khammam district, maize crops had been damaged extensively. The gales that accompanied the rains had almost flattened the maize crop.

Crops on hundreds of acres have been damaged in the Sangareddy district with the worst affected towns and villages being Zaheerabad, Kohir, Nyalkal, and Raikal. They witnessed heavy rains, gusty winds, and hailstorms.

According to official estimates, the hailstorm had punished Raikal mandal mercilessly. The crops that were damaged in the district included maize, sorghum, mango, papaya, sugarcane, soya, chilli, tomato, and potato.