Anti-hail guns bought by the Indian government for apple-growing region Himachal Pradesh don't work, according toinewsone.com.
The guns installed in the Shimla area have failed to prevent hailstorms from damaging US$55m-worth of apples in the region over the past three months, the report said.
Himachal Pradesh authorities installed the anti-hail guns as part of a US$0.73m central-government-funded project last year to protect the region's apple crop during the flowering and fruit-setting season.
But the region's horticulture minister Narender Bragta told reporters that human error and lack of power back-up had so far caused the guns to fail.
'Most of the problems have been rectified. Now the guns are effectively quelling the hailstorms,' he said.
But apple grower and opposition Congress leader Rohit Thakur expressed doubt over the usefulness of the guns and the quality of the equipment, bought from the US.
However, Mr Bragta said the extended winter had contributed to the region's poor crop this year, and added that anti-hail guns function successfully in the US, Mexico, Canada, Turkey and Europe.
The Himachal Pradesh authorities have called for the hailstorm damage to be declared a national disaster by the central government so fruit growers can claim compensation for crop losses.
Hailstorms typically damage 20-30 per cent of the region's fruit and vegetable crops each year, according to the report.
Himachal Pradesh produced 961,000 tonnes of fruit in April-December 2010, of which apples made up 892,000 tonnes, it said.
