Athagarh hailstones: Crops in 150 acre lost

Heavy rains accompanied with wind and hailstones on Wednesday evening created havoc leading to loss of crops over 150 acres of lands in all the four blocks of Athagarh subdivision, including Athagarh,  Tigiria, Badamba, Narsinghpur and two blocks of Banki subdivision such as Banki and Damapada.

This is the third time this summer that farmers in many parts of Athagarh and Banki suffered crop losses due to unseasonal rains. Mango crop was worst hit. Corn, sugarcane, vegetables like bitter gourd, creeper fruits, beans, ladies fingers, cucumbers, chilli and other Rabi crops were also affected.

Acres of vegetable crops, particularly leafy vegetables, were damaged by the heavy rains. Pradyumna Rout, a farmer of Samasarpur village under Athagarh block, said that heavy wind destroyed the flowering plants.

Meanwhile, the loss is pegged at over Rs 30 lakh, sources said. The farmers demanded a survey of the crop loss and suitable compensation by the Government.