Moderate to heavy rains to lash Telangana in next 24 hours

Hyderabad: Telangana is set to observe moderate to heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) stated. Moderate rain or thundershowers are expected to occur at many places. The presence of cyclonic circulations over Lakshadweep and north Tamil Nadu coast are expected to bring widespread rainfall over Kerala, Coastal Karnataka over the next five days, the weather office said.

The unseasonal showers on Sunday night caused heavy losses to the farmers of Telangana as they suffered huge crop damages. Standing paddy crop and the produce kept near the procurement centres suffered damage due to heavy rains in Nizamabad, Rajanna-Sircilla, Jagtial, Medak, Kamareddy and Nirmal districts.

Affected farmers staged demonstrations in parts of the state on Monday and demanded compensation for their losses. They alleged that the delay by the authorities in procuring paddy led to losses. It may be noted here that as the Centre refused to procure paddy from Telangana, the TRS government last month said it would procure the grains from farmers.

Meanwhile, the MA&UD minister KT Rama Rao, who represents Sircilla constituency, asked officials to make a detailed note of the damaged crops losses.