BHUBANESWAR: With vast farmlands remaining inundated for days, the flood situation continues to be grim in the Khurda district. Huge swathes of farmland have turned into swamps affecting hundreds of farmers in Krushnapur, Tinkipada and other areas of Rajas panchayat in Balipatna block.
Bishnu Prasad Parida, a farmer, said the flood in the Dhanua river that flooded agricultural land destroyed pointed gourd and ridge gourd plants in half acre land and paddy in another two-acre land. Gobindra Chandra Pradhan, another farmer from the area who had cultivated paddy taking a Rs 26,000 loan from a cooperative society, said his crop on 10-acre land has also been destroyed due to a flood in the Dhanua river.
Meanwhile, the villagers of Khrushnapur alleged that except distribution of dry food for two days no other help or assurance has been given to around 40 to 50 families. Apart from the panchayats of Balipatana, a number of GPs in the Khurda block of the district are also reeling under flood.
The floodwater is yet to recede completely from the affected villages of Orabarsingh and Narangarh panchayats, while people in the Saradhapur village of Brajamohanpur continue to take shelter on rooftops due to neck-deep water for the last four days. Power cuts for long hours have also made the life of people in these flood-affected villages even more miserable.
“There has been no power supply in the flood-affected villages of Narangarh since last night. Though the supply was restored for a few hours in the morning, it was again snapped and there has been no assurance from the officials as to when it will be restored,” said Narangarh sarpanch Bijaya Behera.
Khurda collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy said efforts are being made to ensure a continuous power supply to the affected villages. He also said that the damage assessment is also being done to get details of farmlands inundated and crops damaged. The assessment will be completed within a week.