Strong winds uproot trees in reserve forest, damage crops

: A very strong whirlwind that lashed many parts of Siribagilu village in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district on November 1 evening left a trail of destruction in the reserve forests and nearby places, uprooting several trees and damaging crops in the region, Forest department officials said today.
The winds that swept an area with a radius of 8 kmalso destroyed a few houses, shops, arecanut, coconut and banana trees in many areas resulting in a loss of several lakhs of rupees, they said.
Traffic movement on Gundya-Subrahmanya road cameto a halt following the winds as several uprooted trees fromboth sides fell on the road between Manibandha and Anilavillages.

Traffic was partially restored yesterday withlocals and forest department staff cutting and removing thetrees.
It would take at least a week to clear all the tree branches from the road, they said.
Mangaluru Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) sourcessaid several electric poles had suffered damage in the wind and the loss was estimated at Rs seven lakh.

After visiting the spot, Subrahmanya range Forest Officer N Manjunath told reporters that the fallen trees could be seen from the road in a stretch of 400 to 500 acres insidethe forest.
Puttur taluk Tahsildar Anant Shankar, assistant superintendent of police Rishyanth, MESCOM engineers and police officials from Subrahmanya and Uppinangady also visited the affected areas.

Puttur taluk agricultural produce marketing committee president Krishna Shetty in a statement requested the thegovernment to pay compensation to affected farmers at the rate of Rs one lakh per acre of crops destroyed.