CUTTACK: Heavy rains on Tuesday submerged vast tracts of cultivated land in Badamba and Banki-Dampada blocks leaving the local farmers in a lurch.
The downpour from 10 am to 5 pm led to inundation of paddy saplings as farmlands remained under knee-deep water. Debendra Swain (48) of Gopinathpur village in Badamba said, “I had stored saplings to cultivate three acre of land and kept those in bundles for transplantation on Tuesday. However, the saplings bundles were washed away in the flashflood following the heavy rain.”
Like Debendra, several farmers in Banki-Dampada also bore the brunt of the downpour. Ramesh Behera a farmer of Sankhamary village, said, “I had borrowed money and transplanted hybrid variety of paddy in two acre of land by spending around `30,000 towards tilling, labour charges and fertiliser. Now, my agriculture land is submerged. If the water is not cleared within next two days, the saplings will rot.”
Sources said apart from inundating paddy and vegetable fields, the flashflood due to the heavy rainfall has marooned Kotadwarbasi village under Ragadi gram panchayat in Banki-Dampada block. The rainwater has entered several houses forcing people to take shelter in the nearby village. The government primary school in Kotadwarbasi has also been inundated.
Official sources said Banki-Dampada block received the highest 317 mm rainfall while Badamba recorded 248 mm rain on Tuesday. Chief district agriculture officer Ashok Kar said the situation is expected to improve within a day or two.