Punjab assesses damage after shock showers flatten crops and fuel storage fears

Rain threat to wheat

image courtesy: AFP

Chandigarh: An unusual spell of rain on Monday morning has cast a cloud on the wheat crop yet to be harvested in Punjab, forcing the agriculture department to sent teams across the state to assess the damage. The rains have come at a time Punjab has been grappling with a storage crisis. The state has a total storage capacity of approximately 153 lakh tonnes. But it can accommodate only 37 lakh tonnes of fresh stocks that are expected to be around 130 lakh tonnes. Of the total storage, 103-lakh-tonne capacity is with the Food Corporation of India, while the rest is with five state-run procurement agencies. From last year's harvest, 26 lakh tonnes of wheat and 90 lakh tonnes of rice are still lying in the warehouses. Although officially the procurement of the current stock of wheat started from April 1, sources said the bulk starts arriving by the second week of April - just when the rains have hit. The Punjab government has invited expressions of interest to arrange for cover and plinth space for wheat storage. It is also expecting the FCI to pick up the stocks lying in the warehouses by the time the fresh crop starts arriving. "If things work out as we have planned, we will manage to store between 110 and 120 lakh tonnes but anything over that would be a problem for us," said Anindita Mitra, director of the department of food supplies. According to the meteorological department, western disturbances caused the unseasonal rainfall in Punjab as well as Haryana. Amritsar, Pathankot, Anandpur Sahib, Nangal, Faridkot, Talwandi Sabo, Adampur, Sangrur, Kapurthala, Muktsar and Kharar in Punjab received the rainfall. "An upper air cyclonic circulation over North Pakistan caused this rainfall. There is another similar cloud formation over Haryana adjoining western Uttar Pradesh which could bring more rainfall to the area over the next few days," said a senior official in the Meteorological department in Chandigarh. While the drop in the temperature brought smiles in the urban areas, the farmers and the agriculture department have reasons to complain. "The damage would not be restricted to the standing crops but also the yield that is yet to be taken to the grain silos as there would be an increase in the moisture level in the crops. How the weather remains for the next couple of days will be extremely crucial," said Arvinder Singh, chief agriculture officer, Patiala. The Met department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall on Tuesday. Sources in the agriculture department said they were expecting damage to 10 per cent of the wheat crop, if the inclement weather continued. "The standing crops have been flattened in most of the areas because of the strong winds that were raging since Sunday night. The minimum damage to the standing crop would be around 10 per cent. We are awaiting reports from the field," said Naresh Gulati, a senior officer in the agriculture department.