CUTTACK: From tending to his blooming vegetable crop in his village to toiling as a construction worker miles away, the life of Kishore Swain of Subarnapur has taken a drastic turn in the last few weeks. Kishore had grown different kinds of vegetables on his three-acre farmland.
The crops were flourishing and the farmer looked forward to a good harvest this year. But, all his hopes came dashing with the recent swell in the Mahanadi river. The overflowing river submerged his entire farmland and damaged his entire crop.
“I had invested around Rs 30,000 for growing vegetables on my three-acre land. With flood damaging my crop, I have been left with no other option but to go outside to work as a construction labourer to sustain my six-member family,” he said.
Now, he along with his wife, leave their house at 6.30 am and travel in a vehicle to work as labourers at Jatni in Khurda district. Kishore’s case is not an isolated one. Like him, several land-owning farmers have been forced to give up agriculture and are looking for different jobs. With no work in hand, the flood-hit vegetable farmers of Banki and Damapada blocks in Cuttack are migrating to adjacent districts to toil as daily wage labourers to eke out a living.
The recent flood affected 17-gram panchayats of Banki and Damapada blocks. Acres of farmland were ravaged in at least 20 wards of Banki block and 18 wards of Banki NAC. Even after more than two weeks, the floodwater is yet to recede from hundreds of acres of farmland in Talabasta, Shimilipur, Harirajpur, Bilipada, Kusapangi, Pathapur, Ratagarh, Subarnapur, Kadalibadi, Ostia, Kantapahanra, Bandal gram panchayats.
What’s worse is that while the vegetable farms have been completely damaged, sand deposits have left the cultivated land unsuitable for growing paddy or another crop. Even as the flood-affected farmers of Banki and Damapada blocks are migrating to Jatni in Khurda, Pipili in Puri, Angul and Dhenkanal districts daily to toil as daily wage labourers, their plight is yet to come to the notice of the block administrations.