Crops spread over 20 L hectares damaged in M'wada

Crops spread over more than 7.38 lakh hectares of land were destroyed because of heavy rainfall in the eight districts from June to August months.

Also, crops spread on 4.39 lakh hectares of land were damaged due to frequent rain and not from heavy rain.

The sources said crops on 20 lakh hectares of land were damaged in September and October months as per the preliminary panchanamas.

Standing crops in the Kharif season was getting damaged for consecutive four years in the region because of heavy rainfall. Farmers from the region are in distress.

The State Government distributed Rs 1008 crore as financial aid for the crop losses in September.

The Government hardly distributed compensation when the frequency of heavy rains increased damaging more crops. So, the Government declared Rs 599 crore package for the losses.

It also provided Rs 98 crore for the crop damage caused by snails. With this, the total financial aid given by the Government rose to Rs 1705 crore.

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Rain stops, winter coming

Region records 25 pc more rainfall than the annual average. The annual average rainfall of Marathwada is 697 mm while it received 911 mm of rainfall. This means it recorded 25 per cent more rainfall than the annual average. There is declining in rain since October 21. The change in weather indicates that winter is coming.