GUNTUR: Heavy rains induced by Cyclone Michaung have left a trail of damaged crops on thousands of acres in several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Bapatla is one among them. To assess the crop loss, a central team comprising Ministry of Agriculture joint director Vikram Singh and Ministry of Power assistant director Meena Hooda visited the Bapatla district on Wednesday.
According to the official information, various crops in 93,244 hectares of land were damaged in over 317 villages in 25 mandals in the district. As per the preliminary information collected by the officials, over 75,411 hectares of paddy were damaged, followed by tobacco in 9,232 hectares, maize in 3,530 hectares, and other horticulture crops, including groundnut, jowar, cotton, black gram, sugarcane, jute, and green gram.
The team collected information from officials about the damage caused by the cyclone and later visited Govada, Panchalavarma, Gudavalli, Bhattiprolu, Chavali villages and interacted with the farmers and inspected the damage at the field level. Joint Collector CH Sridhar submitted a review report in which he mentioned that the Bapatla district recorded 20 cm of rainfall in 24 hours during the landfall of the cyclone.
As a result, the district suffered a loss of over Rs 49 crore. As many as 74 relief camps were set up and over 1,388 people were provided accommodation. Over 11,000 families have been affected due to the cyclone, as 132 houses and 65 roads were destroyed. He also informed that over 400 electric poles have been revived.
Vikram Singh said that after assessing the crop damage at the field level and collecting all details from the district administration, a report will be submitted to the central government and required assistance will be provided accordingly.