Rajouri: Unseasonal snowfall in areas of Rajouri and Poonch has put the farmers in a state of distress.
The upper reaches in the twin districts received fresh snowfall since Sunday evening, causing a dip in temperature and forcing people to wear warm clothes.
People are terming the snowfall in May as “unusual” saying that in recent years, people in Rajouri used to face heat waves in mid May.
Bad weather conditions have been prevailing in twin districts since last one week and rainfall has taken place almost everyday.
Besides causing a dip in temperature, the prolonged rainfall and unusual fresh snowfall and hailstorm has caused widespread damage of wheat crops and fruiting plants.
Yogesh Sasan, a farmer of Rajouri said that the wheat crop is set to be harvested and has already ripened but prolonged rainfall was not allowing farmers to harvest the crop and there was every possibility that the standing crop would get damaged in a day or two if bad weather conditions continue.
He said that besides affecting the standing wheat crop, fruit plants had also received damages and fruits like apricot, and plum had fallen off trees due to hailstorm.
Neeru Sharma, a panchayat member from Mankote village of Rajouri said that farmers had suffered losses to crops.
She demanded the government to conduct a loss audit and provide necessary aid to affected farmers, especially for loss of their wheat and fruit crops.