Crops damaged by hailstorms to be compensated: Telangana minister

Hyderabad: Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao announced that the enumeration of crops damaged by recent hailstorms across the state is underway. Based on the final assessment, affected farmers will receive compensation.

Speaking during the zero hour of the Telangana budget session on Monday, March 24, MLAs from various constituencies raised concerns over thousands of acres of farmland damaged by unseasonal rains and hailstorms in recent days.

Nageswara Rao assured the House that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had already directed officials to assess the damage. While a preliminary estimate has been prepared, the final report is awaited, after which compensation will be provided to farmers.

However, the minister did not specify the amount of compensation per acre.

According to preliminary estimates from the agriculture department, unseasonal rains from March 21 to 23 have affected 11,298 acres across 64 mandals in 13 districts. Among the damaged crops, paddy accounts for 6,670 acres, while maize has been affected in 4,100 acres.