The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kupwara, Dr. Doifode Sagar Dattatray Friday toured various hailstorm-affected areas of the district Kupwara along with the team of Agriculture, officers to assess the post-hailstorm situation.
The Deputy Commissioner on the occasion toured several villages including, Luderwan, Kawari, Zirhama, Lidernag and several other villages and took stock of the on- field scenario of hailstorm-affected crops. He visited several orchards, vegetable farms and paddy fields to have first- hand, on spot evaluation and assessment of damage caused by the hail storm .
During the visit, the DC interacted with the affected farmers and assured of every possible assistance by the government. On the occasion the Deputy Commissioner instructed Agriculture officers to provide technical guidance to the farmers to handle the post hailstorm situation.
He asked the farmers to follow and implement the instructions given to them by the departmental experts and concerned field officers, so that the impact of the losses could be minimised.DC instructed the Chief Horticulture officer Kupwara, Chief Agriculture officer Kupwara and Tehsildars to complete the impact assessment assignment and prepare the list of affected farmers so that it could be submitted to the government for further necessary action.
DC Kupwara during the visit handed over 75000 vegetable seedlings provided by the Department of Agriculture to the PRIs of Kawari, Luderwan, Zurhama for distribution among the hailstorm hit families with 90-100 percent losses.
Deputy Commissioner assured the hail storm affected farmers that District administration Kupwara will take all necessary steps to address all the genuine issues of the hailstorm affected farmers.
The farmers were appraised about the recently launched central crop insurance scheme "Pradhan Mantri fasal bhima yojana" by the UT Government and its importance in securing the farmers from adverse climatic conditions.
The farmers were detailed about the benefits of the scheme and were appealed to come forward and register their crops under the scheme to avails benefits.Deputy Commissioner was accompanied by Chief Agriculture Officer Kupwara Gurdeep Singh, other district and Sectoral officers and local PRIs of the area.
It is in place to mention here that a high intensity hail storm accompanied by incessant rains caused major losses to Agricultural crops, and orchards in many parts of District Kupwara in the afternoon on 25th