Follow Us
GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, September 24
Incessant rains for the past 48 hours across Punjab has raised concerns of heavy damage not only to the paddy and other Kharif crops such as cotton and maize, but also to sowing vegetables for upcoming season.
Prior to the procurement that was scheduled from October 1, reports of standing paddy crop getting flattened due to rain and high velocity wind, emerged from various parts of state. Known as lodging in agricultural parlance, lodging prevents grains from developing properly, leading to discolouration, and affecting the per acre yield.
Keeping in view the loss, the farmers demanded special ‘girdawari’ from the government as a relief.
Paddy is sown in around 32 lakh hectares in Punjab, of which 5.25 lakh hectares is under the cultivation of Basmati.
According to Chief Agricultural Officer Dalbir Singh Chhina, rainfall recorded in Amritsar on September 24 was 145 mm, Ajnala 77 mm, Jandiala 81 mm and in Rayya, it was 70 mm.
The worst hit is the PUSA 1509 variety of Basmati. There is around 2 lakh tonne of premium 1509 basmati that was harvested and stocked in the centres at Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran.
“We anticipate that 15-20 per cent crop has got damaged due to two-day rainfall. The total area under cultivation of PUSA 1121 and PUSA 1509 is 65,000 hectares and 22,000 hectares, respectively, in Amritsar belt. The lodging has been witnessed in at least 12,000 hectare area due to stagnant water in the fields,” he said.
In Ajnala, Saki nala (drain) overflowed, bringing miseries to villages like Balarwal, Tanwandi Rai, Sarang Dev, Punga, Saidpur, Bhindi Sayda.
Similarly, villages near Amritsar like Jagdev Kalan, Dhariwal, Chetanpura, Jethunangal, Majitha, Sohia, Vadala were affected. In Tarn Taran, the villages like Chattiwind, Chabba and Gilwali suffered the fury of rain God.
A farmer from Jagdev Kalan Parminder Singh said around 25 per cent of PUSA 1509 sown on 6 acres had been flattened. Bagga Singh from Bhindi Saidan too suffered identical loss on its two acres.
Experts also say that the moisture content in paddy must have doubled up this year. Adding to the woes would be the discolouration of grains. There are likely to be less takers for it.
Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, state president of Jamhoori Kisan Sabha said the farmers usually start harvesting paddy crop at the beginning of the October, but in the present circumstances they would delay it by at least 10 to 15 days. “The vegetables like potato, cabbage, peas and carrot which were supposed to be sown now would be delayed. Barring sugarcane almost every crop suffered a hit”, he said.
Sahib Singh Chattiwind, a leader of Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Punjab) viewed that the damage was due to apathy of the administration, as the drainage system got collapsed due to lack of desilting and cleaning.
Meanwhile Deputy Commissioner KS Sangha held a meeting with Agriculture Department. He said the exact damage was yet to be ascertained but as per the government orders, special ‘girdawari’ for assessing crop damage over the past four days would be furnished. “We have kept constant vigil on river Ravi which has crossed 1 lakh cusecs mark,” he said.
2
3
5