Maharashtra district collectors told to conduct panchanamas of crop loss due to rain: Ajit Pawar

Pawar said, “The entire Marathwada region has received heavy rain. Preliminary reports show it has caused damage to kharif crop. It has also adversely damaged agricultural land. The state government has ordered district collectors to do panchanamas to ascertain the damage.”

Panchanamas are an exercise undertaken to register and document crop loss due to natural calamities in every village across all talukas that have been affected by rain or hailstorm.

Once the process is completed, the state government will deliberate on the financial proposal to provide relief to farmers.

All the eight districts in Maharashtra — Beed, Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna, Hingoli and Osmanabad — have received rain this week.

Kharif sowing in the region was completed by mid-July. But there was a spell of rain between the second week of July and the third week of August. In the last week of August, rainfall returned in the drought-prone Marathwada region.

Of the eight districts, Beed, Aurangabad and Jalna were worst hit by rain, triggering floods. All the rivers in the region were flowing above the danger mark, causing a flood-like situation.

The main kharif crops in Marathwada that have been affected by rain are soyabean, cotton and tur. Almost 30 lakh farmers depend on kharif season for livelihood and sustenance in Marathawada.