It was a dream come true for the farmers of Medak district. A second rake point is coming up in the erstwhile Medak district.
The first one was established at Gajwel.
With railway line to Medak town becoming a reality, now the authorities are busy with making arrangements for the establishment of a rake point where fertilizers can be imported and farm produce like paddy can be exported. Till now the farmers are dependent on the rake point at Sanathnagar in Hyderabad, located about 90 km.
Medak is one of the districts dependent on farming with not having much industrial advantage. Paddy is the main produce during the two seasons. While 2.5 lakh acres is cultivated during kharif season in the district it would be around 2 lakh acres during rabi.
According to Ajmeera Parsashuram Naik, District Agriculture Officer (DAO) the paddy production would be around 6 lakh metric tonnes during kharif followed by about 4 lakh matric tonnes during rabi coming to a total of 10 lakh metric tonnes. The district needs about 1.7 lakh metric tonnes fertilizer to meet the demand.
As the district was dependent on rake point at Sanathnagar it used to incur additional cost of transport and more waiting time to get the fertilizers or to export the rice produced in the district.
The 17.2-km stretch railway line between Akkannapet in Ramayampet mandal and Medak town getting completed at an estimated cost of ₹206 crore by acquiring 371 acres of land from farmers and test run completed in March, the officials are making arrangements for the establishment of rake point near the railway station. It was stated that the Union Government had accorded permission for establishment of rake point at Medak after considering the report submitted jointly by railways, agriculture and Markfed officials.
Godown with a capacity of 1,500 metric tonnes was ready at Agriculture Market Committee (AMC) to keep the imported stock of fertilizers which would be cleared depending on the requirement. It was informed that half rake would be imported every time.
“Every arrangement is in place for the establishment of rake point. It may be formally inaugurated by August 1,” said an officer.
The rake point at Gajwel was formally inaugurated by Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao.
