Thursday, the Horticulture department of Himachal Pradesh said that the apple crops have suffered a lot of damage in different areas of the state in the last few days, due to hailstorms.
All the development blocks of Shimla district, Ani development block of Kullu district and Karsog, Seraj, Gohar and Sundernagar the development blocks of Mandi district have suffered heavy losses, a spokesman of the Horticulture Department said.
He said instructions have been issued to the Regional Officers to take stock of the estimate of the damage caused by recent hailstorm. They have been asked to assess the loss along with the officials of Revenue department and send a detailed report to the Directorate of Horticulture department soon.
Orchardists in the district have stated that the brief hailstorm caused damage to vegetable crops and other fruits. “This year, we expected a good crop as our orchards seemed to be abundant in apples, but the hail storms have not only dashed our hopes, but also left the orchardists in desperation,” said one grower.
According to dailypioneer.com, the department has advised the horticulturists covered under the weather-based crop insurance scheme to register their complaints or inform regarding the loss caused by the hailstorm to the Agricultural Insurance Company of India. The department has already directed the insurance company to assess the damage caused by the hailstorm.