Rain, hail hit basmati, freshly sown wheat

The rain accompanied by hailstones on Tuesday evening not only caused damage to the standing basmati and freshly sown wheat crop in parts of Muktsar and Bathinda districts, but also drenched the produce already harvested and lying in the mandis.

The 15-30 minute spell of hail in some areas even covered roads and paddy stocks in mandis with a white sheet of hailstones for a few minutes.

According to a preliminary report prepared by the Agriculture Department, around 23-28 per cent of the basmati crop has been damaged across 1,680 acres in 14 villages of Malout, Lambi and Gidderbaha blocks of Muktsar district.

Jagjit Singh (85), a farmer from Tharajwala village, said, “I saw such huge hailstones for the first time in my life. They have damaged the freshly sown wheat crop on 30 acres of our family’s land. We will have to resow wheat. The mustard crop has also been damaged.”

Jagsir Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer, Muktsar, said, “The rain accompanied by hail flattened the basmati crop in some areas. Freshly sown wheat crop has also been damaged. However, there is no major damage to any other crop. The cotton crop in these villages had already suffered losses during the monsoon.”

Though the rain and hail brought a dip in temperature, the sunny weather on Wednesday helped farmers spread their crop again for drying.

However, some heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed at the Malout grain market, where videos surfaced showing farmers’ produce floating in rainwater on Tuesday. Similarly, at Kaureana village in the Talwandi Sabo sub-division of Bathinda district, harvested paddy was seen lying under a blanket of hail in some viral videos.

Similar reports emerged from Tharajwala and Sham Khera villages in the Lambi Assembly segment of Muktsar district.

Some farmers at the Malout grain market, requesting anonymity, said, “Our produce is drenched and will take some time to dry. We will have to spend a few extra days in the grain market now. Though commission agents promptly provided tarpaulin sheets, the poor drainage system caused losses to several farmers.”

Mandeep Raheja, Secretary, Malout Market Committee, said, “It rained for a few minutes and the water was drained out within 15 minutes.”

However, farmers could be seen struggling to find space to unload their produce in the mandis.