A Central team led by R.B. Kaul and K. Manoharan visited several villages in Mulugu and Murkook mandals on Thursday and examined the crop lost due to the recent heavy rains and floods. They also inspected the damaged roads and submerged houses.
Collector P. Venkatrami Reddy took the team to the villages and showed them the damaged crops. The team visited Timmapur village in Mulugu mandal and interacted with farmers. The farmers informed the officials that more than half the crop was lost at the time of harvest, further the crop was left to soak in rain water. The farmers told the team that they had been struggling with pest attack and have urged the government to come to their rescue.
Later, the team has visited Annasagar in Mulugu mandal where a culvert was washed away due to heavy flooding. The Collector informed the team that due to flooding all the fields were filled with sand and mud, and it would be a herculean task for farmers to make the fields cultivable again. Large number of farmers met the visiting Central team and poured out their woes to them. They said that cotton crop was lost at the time of first picking of balls itself.
The team members interacted with paddy farmers at Murkook and asked one Bomma Yellaiah how he lost the crop.
Mr. Venkatrami Reddy explained to the visiting officials that there was rain for 80 days out of 120 days, for the first time in the last three decades. “There was a rainfall of 1,449.5 mm against the normal rainfall of 760.2 mm. As much as 20 cm rain fall was registered within three days. Main crops like paddy, cotton and vegetables were lost. Crops were damaged in 84,159 acres worth ₹ 423.7 crore pertaining to 62,745 farmers. Further, 3,047 houses were damaged and three persons were killed during heavy rains,” the Collector explained. They were also informed that R&B roads were damaged to the extent of 324 km, which would require ₹ 17.54 crore for restoration, 71 km panchayat raj roads were damaged and require ₹ 18.17 crore for repair work.
The Central team is expected to submit its report to the Central government shortly. Secretary Agriculture Janardhan Reddy and others accompanied the team.
Kaleshwaram project
Members of the Central team, which has arrived here on Thursday to assess the crop loss in Siddipet district, visited the Murkook pump house and Kondapochammasagar project. They described the Kaleshwaram project as an engineering marvel. Accompanying the team, Collector P. Venkatarami Reddy informed them that the project was completed within three years.