Heavy rains coupled with sudden hailstorm on Monday evening damaged maize crop, vegetables and fruit in different parts of Nalthi Panchayat in additional district Bhadarwah.
In Nalthi Panchayat, 7 kilometres south east of Bhadarwahtown, half a dozen villages including Kholra, Nalthi, Swong Pura, Kach, Bastiand its adjoining villages in Athkhar area of Additional District Bhadarwahsuffered heavy damage to the crops. Hailstorm also hit fruit orchards andvegetable fields.
“The hailstorm continued for about 39 to 40 minutes in many areasand damaged standing maize, fruit and vegetables crop completely,” saidMohammad Yasir Wani, Sarpanch Nalthi.
Demanding immediate relief, Sarpanch said: “Ninety fivepercent of the population in our area is dependent on agriculture and suddenhailstorm damaged maize crop completely in 3,000 kanals of land, beside thefruit orchards and vegetable fields.”
The farmers also appealed to the authorities to compensatethe loss caused due to hailstorm.