Rajasthan: One more spell of unseasonal rains brings heavy losses for farmers

Jaipur: One more spell of light to moderate rain and hail storms has lashed many parts of Rajasthan during the last 24 hours. This has caused heavy losses to the farmers because of the damage caused to the crops.

The issue was raised in the Rajasthan Assembly, where the MLAs demanded a special relief package for farmers affected by the rain and hailstorm, and the opposition staged a walkout protesting the reply given by the state government.

The month of March is proving to be a nightmare for the farmers in Rajasthan as three back-to-back spells of unseasonal rains and hailstorms are causing heavy losses to their standing crops.

As per the report of the Met Department, 10-70 MM rain was recorded in most parts of eastern Rajasthan and 10-40 MM rain in several parts of western Rajasthan during the last 36 hours.

There was a hailstorm in Hanumangarh and Jhunjhunu districts on Monday morning

Wheat crops have suffered the most in many districts of Rajasthan due to heavy rains as the harvesting of crops is going on in Dausa, Hanumangarh, Ganganagar, Bharatpur, Sawai Madhopur, and Alwar districts. Due to strong wind and rain, the standing and cut crops were destroyed.

The director of the Met department of Jaipur Radheshyam Sharma said that this spell of rain and thunderstorm will stop from Tuesday but a new spell will start from March 23-24 due to a fresh western disturbance and rain and hailstorm activity will increase in most parts of eastern Rajasthan.

In the meantime, the issue of damage to crops was raised in the Rajasthan assembly also and MLAs told the house about the misery of farmers in their areas. The MLAs demanded a special relief package for farmers.

The minister for Disaster Management and Relief Govind Ram Meghwal said that the government intends to give a special relief package to the farmers and the matter will be discussed in the cabinet headed by CM Ashok Gehlot.

While MLAs of opposition Bjp staged a walkout from the house accusing the government of not giving any relief to the farmers during previous spells of rain and hailstorm.

Farmer allegedly commits suicide due to crop loss

In the Talera block of Bundi district a farmer Prithviraj Bairwa has allegedly committed suicide due to crop loss after the rains and hailstorm in the area. The SHO of Talera police station Digvijjay Singh said that the crop was damaged due to rain and shocked by this the farmer consumed pesticide on Saturday. He was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to death during treatment on Sunday.