Cyclone Aftermath: AP Minister Calls for Officials to Estimate Crop Loss, Assures Aid

KAKINADA: Civil supplies minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao on Saturday directed officials to prepare estimates on crop loss caused by Cyclone Michaung by “each farmer”, saying input subsidy would be given to all those who suffered the loss of harvested crops would be renumerated.

Convening a meeting in Tanuku, he directed officials to identify unharvested crops and take steps to apply insurance to them. He said that the officials should help farmers without creating any hurdles for them in the process.

Nageswara Rao said that once paddy is shifted to rice mills, if there is a difference in moisture content claimed by farmers and millers, officials should engage a third party for an unbiased decision.

He also directed officials to weed out the Yanamadurru drain and repair the shutters of the Arudala Kodu and Rachakodu canals. He suggested that the AP Transco set up transformers at the Manchili Lift Irrigation Scheme.

DCMS director P. Subba Raju and district agriculture officer Z. Venkateswara Rao were among those who attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, at Karapa mandal, former agriculture minister Kurasala Kannababu said steps were being taken to purchase rain-hit paddy and farmers need not worry.

Visiting paddy fields at Pedapurappadu village, where farmers shared their woes of paddy being inundated, Kannababu assured to bring their grievances to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, assuring government aid. He told the farmers that compensation would be disbursed from December 11.