Price crash and fungal infection force Kolar farmers to dump quintals of mangoes on highway
Kolar, Jun 27: Mango growers of the district have dumped many quintals of mangoes following the Anthracnose fungal infection and crash in mango prices, a farmer leader said.
"Mango growers are in distress in the district due to terrible losses. With no aid coming from the government, farmers have dumped loads of mangoes by the roadside in some parts of Srinivasapura in the district," Kolar District Mango Growers and Marketing Association president Neelaturu Chinnappa Reddy told P T I.
According to him, it was a triple whammy for the mango growers this year.
There was unexpected rain and hailstorm in the district causing severe damage to the crops.
Further, there was Anthracnose fungal attack on the mangoes and third was the crash in mango prices, Reddy said.
"This year farmers took only 30 per cent of the crop, of which half of the crops were destroyed due to fungal attack. Further the crash in mango prices caused immense loss to the growers," the farmer lamented.
He complained that the government focused entirely on COVID and its relief work but did not look at the mango growers who suffered severe losses.
Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited chairman K V Nagaraju said most of the crop destroyed this time is Totapuri variety though other crops suffered minimum losses.
"I visited the spot with the state Horticulture Minister R Shankar. Only Totapuri variety of mango got fungal infections. There was very less damage to Benisha (Banaganapalli), Neelam and Mallika mangoes," Nagaraju told P T I.
He also said that he has written to the government to give a compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare to the Totapuri growers of Kolar who incurred losses.
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Israel strikes Gaza hospital, forcing evacuation as strikes intensify
Deir Al-Balah (Gaza), Apr 13 (AP): Israel struck a hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday, forcing patients to evacuate as attacks intensified across the Strip.
The pre-dawn strike hit Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, after Israel issued an evacuation warning, according to Gaza's ministry of health. One patient died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care, it said.
The hospital, run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, was attacked on Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
Hours later, a separate strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killed at least seven people, according to staff at the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel said it struck a command and control centre used by Hamas at the hospital to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. It said prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm, including issuing warnings, and using precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
The strikes came hours after Israel's defense minister said that military activity would rapidly expand across Gaza and that people would have to evacuate from “fighting zones.” Israel also announced Saturday the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, with the military saying it would soon expand “vigorously” in most of the small coastal territory.
Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms.
Director of Al-Ahli Hospital, Dr. Fadel Naim, said they were warned of the attack before it was struck. In a post on X, he wrote that the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, impacting more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.
The health ministry said the strike destroyed the ward for outpatients and laboratories and damaged the emergency ward.
Medical facilities often come under fire in wars, but combatants usually depict such incidents as accidental or exceptional, since hospitals enjoy special protection under international law. In its 18-month campaign in Gaza, Israel has stood out by carrying out an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and raiding them, some several times, as well as hitting multiple others in strikes while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.
Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and wounding others and causing a large fire, the territory's health ministry said. The facility was overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel ended the ceasefire with a surprise wave of airstrikes.
The war started after Hamas killed 1,200 people during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, mostly civilians, and took 250 people captive, many of whom have been freed in ceasefire deals.
More than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have so far been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive, according to the health ministry there, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
