Rain leaves ryots in tears

• Onion, cotton, maize crops damaged
• Prices of cotton, onion, maize crash in market yards
• 9cm rainfall in 12 hours in Atmakuru

The moderate to heavy rain that has been lashing various parts of the state in general and Kurnool district in particular for the last few days has been bringing tears to the farmers. The average rainfall in the district was recorded at 16.5 mm. The farmers who had almost got the crop in their hand could not digest the loss due to the heavy rain that soaked their produce like onion, cotton, maize and others.

However, the farmers say that the rain was beneficial to the crops like paddy, groundnut, millet and others. Farmers who brought onion to the market yard to sell have suffered heavy loss. Four days back, onion was sold at the rate of Rs. 2,800 to Rs. 3,900 per quintal and now it has come down to Rs. 1,800 to Rs. 3,200. The farmers lament that they are compelled to sell their produce at throwaway price. Flaying officials for their negligence to provide protection to their produce, the farmers said that onion was drenched in the rain water. “Even the godowns and sheds were leaking spoiling the agriculture produce,” they pointed out.

The farmers said that they would have waited for some more days if the onion was soaked in rain water. They alleged that the middlemen and traders have been lowest prices sensing the helplessness of the farmers. They resorted to distress sale fearing that the cyclonic condition would prevail for two more days. In Atmakuru, the incessant rain that continued for twelve hours had resulted in overflowing of rivulets and streams in the Nallamala area in Atmakuru division. In a short span of 12 hours 9cm rain was recorded disrupting the transport to about 50 villages. Maize, paddy and other crops suffered heavy loss. Commercial crops in Kothapalli, Atmakuru, Pamulapadu, Bandi Atmakuru and Velugodumandals were inundated. Particularly, the Chenchugudems in Nallamala forest area were the worst hit due to the downpour. Roads were cutoff, RTC bus services were stopped. There is every danger of epidemics hitting the Girijans in the forest area.

A Girijan youth of Nagaluti Chenchugudem, who was bitten by a snake could not be shifted to Atmakuru government hospital due to rain resulting in his death. It has been estimated that maize farmers alone suffered a loss of Rs. two crore due to the heavy rain. Paddy in 30,000 acres was damaged. Several low-lying areas were inundated and the people in general and farmers in particular fear that the rains would continue for 24 hours more. In Nandikotkuru, the hopes of the farmers were short-lived after their produce like maize and groundnut was inundated in the market yard.

The farmers have been happy that the yield was good this year due to the timely rain. However, the downpour caused by the low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal has taken away their happiness. The farmers of Nandikotkuru have cultivated maize in 7020 hectares and groundnut in 2100 hectares.

The farmers have already brought maize from 2100 hectares and groundnut from 1300 hectares to the market yard and spread them on the ground to dry the crop. However, the cyclonic storm damaged the crop. They appealed to the government to come to their rescue. About 1,000 tonnes of maize was soaked in the rain water. In Adoni, the largest market yard in Rayalaseema, Adoni Agriculture Market Yard has received 60,000 bales of cotton on Tuesday. However, the downpour played spoilsport bringing tears to the farmers. The price of the cotton which was between Rs. 4,800 and Rs. 5,400 has drastically come down by Rs. 1,000 after the rain lashed the market yard.

The farmers said that there were no minimal facilities to protect their produce in the market yard. “There were not even tarpaulins to cover the cotton bales,” they lament. The groundnut farmers in the upland areas fear that the crop might get damaged due to the excess rain. However, the silver lining is that it would be easy for them to reap groundnut crop due to the rain. Moreover the present downpour would help the farmers to go for rabi crop early. The average general rainfall in October was recorded as 114.5mm while this year it had already crossed 55mm this month. The agriculture officials feel that the area of cultivation during rabi would go up due to the present rainfall.

Petrol bunk burglars held OUR BUREAU Nalgonda: The district police during routine checkup rounded a gang of ten who target the petrol bunks exclusive to rob. Miryalaguda Rural CI Venkateswar Reddy was routinely checking up the vehicles near Vemulapalli police station when he got suspicious of the persons in two cars.

The accused tried to get away but were chased and apprehended. During the interrogation, the police learnt that the gang was involved in at least eight petrol bunk robberies in Vemulapalli, Miryalaguda, Choutapal and Bibinagar in Nalgonda district alone in addition to the criminal cases filed in Nizamabad, Sadasivanagar and Chegunta

. The police identified the accused as Shaik Surya of Prakasam district, Y Shivakumar of Medak, Vaddepalli Durga Rao of LB Nagar, Koka Venkatesh of Nellore, Istari Venu of Warangal, Tanniru Saikuamr of Kothapet in Hyderabad, Musukula Sandeep Reddy of Nalgonda, G Rakesh Kumar of Munagala mandal and Boddupalli Ramesh of Munugodu. SP Prabhakar Rao said that they have seized a Skoda, an Innova, an Indica, a Mangalasutram, Rs. 5,000 in cash and two cell phones from the accused