Himachal, Punjab, Rajasthan bear the brunt, most crops damaged
CHANDIGARH/DEHRADUN: A chain of storms on Wednesday that caused rains and hailstorm leading to death of 117 persons damaged a variety of crops in northern India and drenched harvested wheat in parts of Punjab and Haryana.
Agriculture experts said the worst affected states were Punjab, Himachal and Rajasthan, where the standing horticulture crops were rampaged by fast blowing winds and hail, which will reduce the quality of the already low expected output.
Low output was expected due to the long dry spell that started in December last year with up to 90% less rainfall than normal till April this year. However, a few agriculture experts said that lowering of temperature was good for the sowing of cotton crop.
Punjab government officials said nearly 9 lakh quintal wheat was swamped in Bhaktanwala grain market in Amritsar. Amritsar mandi officer Kulwant Singh said most of the wheat had been lifted from other markets and kept under tents.
In Jalandhar district, while cucumber, watermelon and muskmelon crops suffered nearly 70% damage due to hail, maize was flattened by rain and high-speed winds, horticulture experts said.
Santokh Singh, a farmer from Malsian who cultivated watermelon, muskmelon and maize on over 100 acres, said he suffered total crop loss. “We will suffer losses of lakhs of rupees as the hailstorm left holes in the cucurbit crops and the loss is irrecoverable,” he said.
Deputy director horticulture (Jalandhar) Satbir Singh said the rain and hailstorm is likely to have caused over 70% damage to fruit crops in some of the affected areas. “There was some loss of the harvested wheat but it was not very high,” said Jalandhar mandi officer Varinder Kumar said.
In Uttarakhand and Himachal, untimely rains and storm have left an adverse impact on fruit flowering, officials in two states said. The flowering season of apples and other fruits, such as pears and litchi, is in full swing.
As per Nainital’s district horticulture officer TN Pande, the rains and storm have affected roughly 25% of fruit belt in the region. “Particularly mango and litchi growers have suffered heavy loss,” he said.
Agriculture department officials said some 20% vegetable crops and 25%-30% potato crop has been damaged in the hills and added that a detailed field survey will be carried out soon to ascertain the loss. Nihal Singh, a vegetable grower from Dehradun’s Sahaspur area, said that half of the crop has been damaged.
“We have lost half of our apple crop because of continuous hail in the last month, which is also the peak flowing season,” said Subhash Seshta, a farmer from Shimla’s Kotgarh region, from where apple cultivation started in Himachal. In Haryana, the agriculture department said the dust storm that hit southern parts of the state did not impact agriculture as the harvest season was over but claimed that lowering of temperatures was good for sowing of cotton.
Additional director (agriculture department) Suresh Gehlawat said as the harvest of wheat and mustard is over, the dust storm in Sirsa, Hisar, Bihwani, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh and Rewari districts brought down the temperature.
However, in Jammu and Kashmir, there was no dust storm and there were moderate winds in parts of the Valley.
Thunderstorm and squalls: Parts of Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha (as per IMD’S forecast for the rest of the week) Thunderstorm with gusty winds: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka, interior Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Thunderstorm with squall: Parts of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand Thunderstorm with gusty winds: Parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Odisha and Kerala.
Thunderstorm with squall and hail: Parts of J&K and Himachal Pradesh Thunderstorm with gusty winds: Parts of Uttarakhand and Punjab.
Saddened by the loss of lives due to dust storms in various parts of India. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. We are making all efforts to ensure the injured are given aid. We have prioritised restoration work so that drinking water and electricity get restored.