Rains have damaged crops on 50 lakh hectares of land: Radha Mohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Heavy and widespread rain over the past 3-4 days have damaged crops on over 50 lakh hectares, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said, adding that state governments must release funds immediately to help farmers who suffered losses. "State governments have ample funds like contingency fund for such situations to help the affected farmers.

The Centre will provide requisite funds to farm areas where crops were hit by hailstorms," he said.

Farms across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and West Bengal have been hit by unseasonal rains, the minister said while replying to a short duration discussion on the matter in the Rajya Sabha.

"At isolated places, rainfall recorded was up to 8 to 10 cm. This is heavy and serious rainfall. Districts like Karnal in Haryana, Amritsar in Punjab, Bareli and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Chandrapur, Yavatmal and Pune in Maharashtra and Jabalpur and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh saw heavy rainfall leading to crop damage," he said. At some places, hailstorms hit standing crops, he said.

"As per initial reports received from states till now, there has been damage to 27 lakh hectares in Uttar Pradesh, 7.5 lakh hectares in Maharashtra, 14 lakh hectares in Rajasthan, 49,000 hectares in West Bengal and 6,000 hectares in Punjab," the minister said. The area affected is about 8% of the total under winter crop cultivation.