Rain drenches wheat bags in mandis, strong winds disrupt power in region

Thunderstorm and rain lashed the region late on Friday disrupting not only the power supply, but also wetting the wheat in the grain markets.

Wheat arrivals are peaking these days in the mandis. In Panipat, a total of 2.16 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat arrived at 12 mandis and purchase centres. Of this, 2 lakh MT were procured till Friday evening. Out of the total procured wheat, 88,451 MT wheat (44 percent) has been lifted by procurement agencies from the mandis.

Dinesh Bhoker, president, Panipat mandi, said that around three lakh bags of procured wheat are lying in the grain market. He said that the bags got wet, but the wheat suffered no big damage as the rain spell was very short. Overall, procurement and lifting are going on smoothly in the mandi, he claimed.

Baljeet Singh, president, Samalkha grain market, said lifting of wheat bags is better than was in the previous years. Around four lakh bags are lying in the Samalkha grain market, he said.

Due to the bad weather, 11 poles broke and one transformer structure fell down in the rural area of Panipat district. As a result, power supply got disrupted. But it was restored within two hours, claimed Dharam Suhag, Superintending Engineer, UHBVN, Panipat Circle.

In Sonepat district, 2.83 lakh MT wheat has been procured at 24 grain markets and purchase centres till Friday. As much as 94,485 MT (33 per cent) has been lifted so far and 1.88 lakh MT procured wheat is lying in the grain markets.

The wheat got wet due to rain in Kharkhoda on Friday night. Some issue of mixing wet grain with dry wheat was reported during the procurement in Kharkhoda grain market on Saturday but it was resolved, the sources said.

In Jind district, power was disrupted to 10 villages as several trees were uprooted and those fell on the power lines.

Strong wind and rain also damaged the wheat lying in the open at the grain markets. The stock lying in the open or filled in the gunny bags got wet, resulting in problems for commission agents and farmers. The moisture also resulted in disruption in wheat procurement work in the grain markets in Jind district.

In Kurukshetra district, wheat crop on 57 acres was damaged due to fire caused by strong wind last evening. Besides the standing wheat, fodder and crop residue on hundreds of acres were also gutted in the fire. As per the Agriculture Department officials, the loss was reported from villages of Pehowa and Thanesar blocks of Kurukshetra.

Haryana Tribune