BALASORE: A calamitous fire wreaked havoc on the lives of more than 25 farmers from Bannida, Alalpur, and Nampo villages under the Jaleswar block in the district.
The incident occurred on Sunday, robbing these farmers of their hard-earned happiness. Sources reveal that the fire originated when a farmer engaged a harvester machine for paddy harvesting.
The straw, stacked in his field earlier in the morning, caught fire on a heap and quickly spread to nearby fields aided by windy weather conditions. In a matter of 15-20 minutes, standing paddy across more than 25 acres turned into ash.
Despite the farmers rushing to the fields, their attempts to control the fire proved futile. Akshya Das and Harekrushna Rana, among the affected farmers, lamented the loss of ripened paddy over an extensive area. Firefighter teams from Nampo and Jaleswar arrived promptly, but the inferno was too widespread to be extinguished effectively.
“We are unsure how to repay the debt borrowed from society and money lenders,” expressed a distressed Malati Mohanty of Nampo village. Laxman Das from Manida village, another affected farmer, conveyed the anguish of losing three acres of ripened paddy, which was his livelihood. The affected farmers, armed with photos and videos captured on their mobile phones, plan to present their case before the assistant agriculture officer of Jaleswar on Monday.
“We will seek compensation against the substantial crop loss suffered in the devastating fire,” Mohanty added. Contacted, chief district agriculture officer Saroj Kumar Mohapatra, said once the report reaches him, he will take a call after discussing it with the collector.