TOBA TEK SINGH: The wheat crop was ruined on Thursday and Friday by a strong gale and a rain in Toba Tek Singh.

Heavy windstorms and rain flattened the wheat crop just one month before it was scheduled to be harvested. According to reports, there were several villages in Toba Tek Singh, Rajana, and Pirmahal where the wheat harvest had nearly entirely collapsed.

Pakistan Kissan Committee leader Chaudhry Naeem Fateh claimed that a bumper wheat crop was predicted this year, however in a number of areas, the windstorm blew down spikes of the wheat plant.

He asked that Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi declare the impacted regions as a calamity stricken and to forego the collection of their water cess and revenue taxes.

Orchards of mango were also affected due to the windstorm. An orchard owner of chak 395 JB, Asif Mahboob, said that his mango orchard lost plenty of flowers. Tobacco crops in villages chak 291 GB,284 GB,335 GB,361 GB,336 GB and some other Rajana villages had also been damaged.

Scores of trees were also uprooted and due to the felling of trees, different link roads of the villages also remained blocked which were cleared by the farmers with self-help. The power supply was also interrupted as wires broke and some localities of cities and villages were still without power on Friday evening. Fesco staffers were working to restore the power supply.

OKARA: The hail, rain and thunderstorm that followed devastated Okara’s wheat harvest.

The storm began late on Thursday and lasted for an hour, making the weather colder in the process.

According to agriculturalist Saleem Raza Kharal, the standing wheat crop was flattened to the ground by the strong winds, which hampered the development of the wheat seeds.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2023