Unseasonal rains, accompanied by hailstorm, lashed parts of Maharashtra’s Marathwada and Vidarbha region, razing huge tracts of crops yesterday, officials said. The hailstorm, which hit Jalna, Beed, Amravati, Buldhana, Washim, Akola and the surrounding areas, flattened the standing crops of wheat, grapes and chickpea besides hitting mango cultivation. The hailstorm, which lasted 15 minutes in some parts of Jalna and other places, transformed the green fields into white “snow-covered” valleys of Jammu and Kashmir. Farmers also complained they lost their crops of gram, oranges, banana, jowar and others in the natural calamity. As hailstones, the size of tennis balls in some areas, bombarded the region, at least two men were fatally hit. The Maharashtra government moved into active mode with Agriculture Minister Pandurang Fundkar announcing that all farmers would be compensated for their crop losses. He added that a meeting of insurance companies has been convened in Mumbai today to discuss the issue. Co-operation Minister Subhash Deshmukh ordered district officials to start preparing records immediately to assess the losses to disburse aid to the affected farmers. Opposition leaders Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress and Dhananjay Munde (Nationalist Congress Party) demanded that the government make a survey and immediately arrange to compensate the farmers before the upcoming budget session in March. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday warned farmers to beware of rains and unseasonal rains, after India Meteorological Department’s Pune centre forecast hailstorms for February 10-12 and advised farmers to complete harvesting of crops before February 12 and keep the produce in safer place. Source - http://www.gulf-times.com/