MAYILADUTHURAI: The farmers in the district are a distraught lot as the unseasonal rains that lashed the district on January 7 and 8 have damaged their crops. They are requesting the government to provide them with relief for the damages, as chances to revive the crops are getting slimmer by the day.
Even three days after the rains, many fields in the district are underwater. After inspecting the crop damages in the villages near Sirkazhi on Wednesday, the general secretary of Tamil Nadu Kaviri Vivasaayigal Sangam, PR Pandiyan, said,
"The farmers are crestfallen as the rains have damaged their harvest-ready crops. The state government should conduct an open survey on the damages and should provide the farmers with relief from state disaster management funds. It should also ensure that the affected farmers are getting crop insurance under the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme." Around 69,000 hectares of Samba and Thaladi paddy varieties have been cultivated in the Mayiladuthurai district.
The agriculture department said the floodwaters have started receding from the paddy fields, and they are conducting surveys daily. "The total damage may also reduce after water recedes," a senior official from the agriculture and farmers welfare department said.
Meanwhile, many farmers are claiming pace of water draining from their fields is low due to a lack of desilting of the drainage channels. The public works department used to desilt the irrigation and drainage channels in April and May ahead of the Mettur Dam opening date - June 12.
The officials in Mayiladuthurai said they do not have any plans for desilting the drainage channels at the moment. "All the tail-end regulators in the rivers, distributaries and channels are open to allow waters to drain towards the sea," a senior official from the public works department said.
Environment Minister Siva V Meyyanathan who inspected the damages in Mayiladuthurai district on Wednesday assured the crop damages would be taken to the notice of the Chief Minister MK Stalin for crop loss relief.