Hyderabad: Four farmers died in two separate wall collapse incidents while trying to protect their paddy produce around midnight after heavy rains lashed Luxettipet mandal in Mancherial district during Tuesday’s storm.At Gampalapalli village, Thanugula Nagaraju and his son Abhiram took shelter at a nearby structure when the rain intensified. Around 1am, a wall of the structure collapsed, killing Abhiram on the spot. Nagaraju, 50, was shifted to a hospital in Karimnagar, where he later died.In a separate incident, Gundarapu Venkatesh, 24, from Kothuru village, and Nelki Lachanna, 50, from Muthyampet village, were among a group of 15 farmers who had taken shelter in a shed after covering their paddy with polythene sheets. Both men died when a wall of the shed gave way. The group had chosen to remain there overnight to guard the produce, which was reportedly scheduled to be transported to procurement centres the following morning.“All four who died are farmers. Their deaths are linked to paddy procurement. They may not have died at procurement centres, but they lost their lives trying to protect their paddy from getting damage,” said Thota Satish Kumar from Kothuru village.Officials, however, denied any connection between the fatalities and delays in procurement, stating that the matter was being politicised.“Except for Venkatesh, the produce of the other three farmers was not at our centres. They were not waiting for procurement. Even Venkatesh died nearly a kilometre away from the centre after leaving to check on his produce. We will clear his dues by tonight. Around 200 bags of his paddy are at our centre,” said Ch Brahma Rao, district civil supplies officer, Mancherial.According to officials, nearly two lakh metric tonnes of paddy are expected to be procured from the district, of which only 15,000 metric tonnes have been collected so far. They maintained that there is no delay, noting that arrivals from Mancherial typically occur later than in other districts.District agriculture officer E Surekha stated Tuesday’s rains damaged paddy crop across 3,195 acres.“We have already submitted a preliminary report. Fresh inspections will be conducted in two to three days. The extent of damage may vary depending on rainfall and other factors,” she said, adding that paddy is currently the only crop under cultivation in the district.Paddy is grown across approximately 1.29 lakh acres in Mancherial district.
