BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government on Tuesday said paddy crops over 3.23 lakh hectare have suffered damage due to drought across 15 districts of the State.
After receiving reports from Collectors, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office assessed the crop damage in the drought-affected districts. Balangir emerged as the most stressed district with loss reported at over one lakh hectare.
As many as 6,015 villages in 70 blocks of the 15 districts have been found drought-hit. According to the final report, paddy crop over a total sown area of 3,23,604 hectare (ha) has been found damaged.
Crop damage in the range of 33 per cent to 50 per cent has been reported in 1,43,904 ha whereas damage of 50 per cent and above is reported in 1,71,532 ha sown area. Crop loss of 33 per cent and above is pegged at 3.15 lakh ha.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to
announce an assistance package shortly basing on the final report.
“All those eligible will be provided assistance by the State Government on an immediate basis,” Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told this paper.
In Balangir alone, the damage was recorded over 1.06 lakh ha spread over 1,719 villages in five blocks. Bargarh, another western district which is known to be the rice bowl of the State, reported paddy damage in 88,770 ha. Over 50,000 ha sown area has recorded 50 per cent damage and more.
Nuapada district also recorded damage to crops in 61,448 ha whereas in Dhenkanal, the loss was reported from 24,504 ha. Angul with 12,302 ha and Boudh with 10,103 ha were among the most-affected by drought.
In total, 1,125 gram panchayats and 11 urban local bodies including 84 Wards have been found drought-affected during the field survey.
“The final report of crop damage was arrived after ground-truthing which was closely coordinated by the Collectors. We have adopted authentic process to determine the crop damage,” Sethi said.
The Special Relief Commissioner himself had led a team and visited Balangir and Nuapada districts to assess the drought damage to crops.