KENDRAPARA: After four days of incessant rains battered the coastal district of Kendrapara causing waterlogging, damage to property including crops and traffic disruption in urban areas, the district administration, on Tuesday, started damage assessment in different blocks.
With major rivers and their tributaries in spate, district authorities, as part of emergency measures, have stocked rice, flattened rice, molasses, kerosene and other items at all the gram panchayat offices and block headquarters to help people affected by the heavy rains.
Among worst affected were vegetable growers whose crops were damaged following the continuous downpour. The damage also led to a sudden spike in vegetable rates. Sources said large tracts of vegetable fields are submerged in knee-deep water and now rotting.
Sangram Behera, a vegetable seller of Kendrapara said in normal days, the prices would have come down in August but the rains devastated the crops leading to the hike in prices. Most vegetables reportedly registered a two fold increase in their prices.
“Each year, farmers bear the brunt of natural calamities be it flood, deficit or untimely rainfall and drought but authorities only pay lip service,” said farmers’ leader Umesh Chnadra Singh.
Confirming the damage to vegetable crops, assistant director of Horticulture department in Kendrapara Kanda Jena said a report will be sent to the government after assessing the damage.
Meanwhile, district emergency officer Sambeet Satpathy said the government will provide compensation to affected people under State Specific Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Government officials have been directed not to leave headquarters without informing the district administration, he further said.