Collectors should be on high alert till rains recede: Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Reddy

AMARAVATI: Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the district collectors to be on high-alert with regard to the sudden rains and take all possible measures to protect the standing crops. He asked the officials to immediately rush the field officials to save the standing crop in the field wherever it was possible.
Chief minister took stock of the rains situation with the senior officials in CMO on Sunday. After taking the feedback from the senior officials, chief minister asked them to advice the district collectors to depute additional teams to the field to assess the situation. He wanted the district collectors to personally monitor the rain damages and extend all necessary assistance to the farmers.
“Issue necessary instructions to the district collectors to ensure that there is no delay in launching the crop damage enumeration. All the district collectors should be in the field to take stock of the ground situation,” said chief minister.
He asked the district collectors to start enumeration of crop damages immediately after the rains receded. He wanted that the enumeration must be completed within a week after the rains recede and take further measures to provide assistance to the farmers.
Meanwhile, the district collectors directed the agriculture department officials to closely monitor the situation with regard to the damages to the crops.
Initial reports suggested that commercial crops including chilli, cotton and even paddy in some districts received heavy damage due to the unseasonal sudden cloud burst in the last two days.
Many districts in the state faced heavy rains which were completely unexpected by the farmers. Rains lashed out in Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, Nellore, YSR, Tirupati and Godavari districts. Rabi crops, which were in harvest stage in many districts, received heavy damage.