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Renewed threat to paddy as rain resumes

ALAPPUZHA: The summer rain which resumed here on Tuesday after a brief respite has heaped more misery on farmers in Kuttanad.

Though the exact damage on Tuesday was yet to be ascertained, District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan said the rain had certainly worsened the situation.

More paddy fields were learnt to have been submerged, which meant more paddy crop ready for harvest was facing the threat of being damaged.

In several areas, harvested paddy kept on the sides of the paddy fields and on roadsides for procurement by the Civil Supplies Department too was facing the threat of damage after Tuesday’s rain. The extent of cultivated area that was submerged till Monday was 5,811 hectares, as per official estimates. The total extent of cultivation this Puncha season was 25,232 hectares.

Joint teams with officials from the Revenue and Agriculture Departments started ascertaining the extent of damage.

Teams visited 56 Padasekharams of a total 300 in Kuttanad. The damage calculated with the help of farmers had been pegged at Rs.3.14 crore. The actual figures, unofficially put at around Rs.10 crore on Monday, now may go up, officials said.

The Collector issued directives to open more shutters of the Thanneermukkom barrage to facilitate the flow of rainwater into the sea and thus empty the inundated paddy fields. The Collector said that directives were issued to use harvest machines wherever possible while the Civil Supplies Department had been ordered to procure as much paddy as possible at the earliest.

Staff Reporter writes from Kottayam:

Paddy cultivation in 3,600 hectares of land has been affected in the unprecedented heavy rain that lashed the western areas of the district on Saturday and Sunday, district authorities say.

The loss, as per preliminary estimates, has been put at Rs. 4.32 crore. The worst hit are Kottayam, Ettumanur, Changanassery and Vaikom thaluks.

Nearly 18,000 hectares of land in these taluks had been under paddy cultivation and paddy in more than 3,000 hectares has been harvested.

Though the district experienced sunshine on Tuesday, the situation in the padasekharam areas continued to be grim. The harvesting in most parts failed to pick up for the third consecutive day as the skies remained dark, with areas such as Nattakom experiencing showers.

Procurement of paddy too has failed to take off as the private mill owners remained off the padasekharams in most places. However, in some places, they have expressed their willingness to lift the paddy, but at a low rate.

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