Andhra Pradesh

Rain paves way for farm operations

Special Correspondent

Srikakulam: After prolonged gap, all the 38 mandals in the district received wide spread rain in the last couple of days, paving the way for the commencement of agricultural operations which, according to farmers, had already been delayed by two weeks. Farmers would be busy preparing seed beds and broad casting seed and other farm operations. Paddy is sown on about six lakh acres in the district during kharif season. Besides paddy, todays rain is good for other crops also. On Friday, Regidi mandal received the highest rainfall of 107.6 mm, followed by Saribujjili (102.6 mm) and Heeramandal (96mm) and Vangara (85.20m).

There were moderate inflows into the Vamsadhara river and the reservoir level at Gotta Barrage, on Friday evening, was 37.50 mts as against the full reservoir level of 38.10 mts. The discharge was 2,000 cusecs. According to officials at the barrage, rainfall in the catchment areas like Gudari, Gunupur and Kasinagar, all located in Orissa State ranged between 10 mm to 20 mm.

Meanwhile a flood monitoring cell was set in the collectorate. Instructions had been issued to officials at the divisional and mandal levels to constantly monitor the situation. Officials were asked to store adequate material to meet any emergency.

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