Dehradun, Oct. 12 -- Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi has directed departmental officials to conduct on-site surveys of areas affected by recent excessive rainfall and hailstorms on October 9 and assess the extent of crop losses to ensure timely relief to farmers. Issuing the directions to departmental officials, Joshi ordered regular monitoring of crop damage across the state and detailed field-level assessments of affected agricultural and horticultural crops. He instructed officials to work with utmost seriousness and promptness and ensure there was no negligence in the survey process. Joshi said that the actual extent of damage must be assessed so that necessary assistance could be provided to affected farmers in accordance with government rules. Officials said that in Almora, horticultural crop damage ranging from 15% to 70% has been reported in the Chaukhutia and Lamgara development blocks. In Champawat, damage exceeding 33% has been recorded in the Champawat, Pati, Lohaghat and Barakot development blocks. Officials said a total of 8,372.31 hectares of agricultural land has been affected by agricultural disasters during the Kharif 2026 season. htc...