The Andhra Pradesh governmentMonday said it will pay an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to thekin of 18 people killed in hailstorm in different districts ofthe state in the last three days.
The government will also build houses under the IndiraAawas Yojana to those who lost their shelters in heavy rains,Revenue and Disaster Management Minister N Raghuveera Reddysaid.
Briefing reporters at the end of a high-level reviewmeeting with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here, he said18 persons were killed in heavy rains and 1,149 houses werefully or partly damaged.
"Preliminary estimates suggested that agriculture andhorticulture crops in 2.48 lakh hectares in nine districtssuffered extensive damage due to unseasonal rain andhailstorm," the minister said.
The government has decided, in principle, to apply themarket intervention scheme to procure discoloured chilli,turmeric, cotton and Bengalgram from affected farmers afterdue enumeration of the losses, he said.
Meanwhile, a press release from the Chief Minister'sOffice (CMO) said Kiran Kumar Reddy would visit Karimnagar andAdilabad districts tomorrow to take stock of the situation andinteract with affected farmers.
The chief minister also asked chief secretary MinnieMathew to review the situation in other districts through avideo-conference with the respective collectors.
He directed officials from Agriculture, Revenue,Horticulture and Marketing departments to complete enumerationof crop losses and submit a report to the government within aweek, the release said.