Ranipet ryots riled as officials make hasty inspection of hail-hit crop

RANIPET: On Tuesday, Joint Director (Agriculture) along with officials inspected three villages in Nemili taluk in Ranipet district where standing paddy crop was destroyed by rains accompanied by hail a couple of days ago.

However, the visit was not without incident. Though social media was rife with pictures and videos of the affected areas, the Nemili Tahsildar reportedly sent a “no damage” report infuriating the affected farmers.

Farmers said nearly 1,000 acres were affected in Siruvalayam, Pudupattu and Ulianallur villages and demanded compensation of Rs 30,000 per acre to make up for losses entailed by them.

Only when the farmers themselves forwarded similar pictures of the locally affected areas did officials wake up to the truth specially, after a local VAO forwarded messages to his higher ups.

Meanwhile, the Ranipet district administration went into overdrive following a video of hail landing with loud thuds in a water-filled field during the rain. They soon put out messages that the video had no connection with Ranipet district as it was taken in a farm in Nepal.

Agriculture officials, who inspected the site visited a couple of fields in Siruvalayam and left. Revenue officials said they had to be present for an inspection of direct purchase centres by the RDO and hence all left.

Farmers were wondering whether they would receive any compensation at all following such haphazard inspection.