Ryots assured crop would be purchased

Farmers in the erstwhile Warangal district need not panic as the administration would buy their crop, said Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari.

Taking stock of the damage of crops at a meeting with the officials, he said district officials should enumerate the damage to crop and public representatives should aid them in the process.

The officials were asked to take up steps to set up centres to purchase the damaged produce. They should purchase the produce already brought to the market and shift them immediately to godowns.

Ex-gratia payment

Further, persons who died due to the severe storm in Warangal Urban district would be provided ex-gratia by Saturday along with the people whose houses were damaged, he added.

Warangal Rural District Collector M. Haritha said that preliminary reports suggested that 4,361 hectares of crop sustained damage in the district with 7,458 paddy and maize farmers incurring losses on account of sudden rain. Similarly, 2095 horticulture farmers suffered losses with 2137 hectares of crop getting damaged.

Purchase centres

According to her, 43 houses were completely damaged and 647 houses were partially damaged. She said eight centres for purchase of maize and 90 centres of purchase of paddy were set up in the district.

Warangal Urban Collector Amrapali Kata said 2240 farmers have incurred loss in the district with 1346 hectares of crop damage, including mango, maize, and paddy. She said all arrangements for purchase at the Enumamula market were made and there was no shortage of godowns in the district.

MP P. Dayakar, MLAs D. Vinay Bhaskar, Ch. Dharma Reddy, Chairman State Civil Supplies Corporation Peddi Sudharshan Reddy were present.