A Central team had a detailed interaction with the officers of Haryana Government here today to assess the extent of damage to crops in the state due to recent unseasonal rains in the state.
Haryana Chief Secretary, D S Dhesi, apprised the central team that due to unprecedented and untimely heavy rains in the state, followed by strong winds and hailstorms in the month of March 2015, the standing crops mainly wheat and mustard were extensively damaged.
The problem got further aggravated with the rains and hailstorm in the month of April as well, he told the team which was headed by Vasudha Mishra, Joint Secretary to Union Government, Ministry of Agriculture.
Chief Secretary informed that as against average normal rainfall of 11.00 mm in the month of March, the average rainfall in the state was 77.00 mm, which is a record in the last 100 years.
Rains/hailstorm during April caused further damage to standing as well as harvested crop lying in the fields, he said.
Vasudha Mishra told the Chief Secretary that there was extensive damage to wheat, mustard, barley and vegetable crops. Since it was flowering season for mango and ber, there has been extensive damage to the fruit trees. Even the quality of fodder and forage was impacted, she said according to an official release.
The team expressed satisfaction regarding correct recording of damage in Girdawari (Crop Inspection) register by revenue officials.
The Central team assured that it will make recommendations to the Government of India as per their observations about the visit for early release of compensation package to the State Government.
The Central Government had constituted an inter-ministerial team comprising of representatives of Finance, Rural Development, Water Resources, Water Supply and Sanitation, Agriculture Ministries and NITI Aayog to assess the damage caused to the Rabi crops in the state due to untimely heavy rains and hailstorms.
Yesterday, two teams, one headed by Vasudha Mishra, IAS and another headed by Dr J P Mishra, Adviser, NITI Aayog visited districts of Mewat and Palwal, and Rewari and Bhiwani respectively.
