Officials inspect fields, water drained out to save crops

Though the impact of Cyclone Nivar was less than feared, the region received continuous rainfall in districts like Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Pudukkottai. In several places, paddy fields were inundated. Sources said that water failed to recede in around 300 acres of sugarcane at Sirkazhi in Nagapattinam and 10,000 acres of paddy in Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur.

On Friday, as a follow up action, the monitoring officials of the respective districts visited the rain-hit locations and initiated steps to drain out the water. The officials instructed the Agriculture Department to step up the works to drain the water from the fields so that it would save the standing crops.

“The district administration has urged the Agriculture Department officials to rescue the paddy submerged at Keezhaiyur and Malaiyur near Poompuhar in the district with the equipment available in the department. We have roped in the farmers from both the villages into the activity. They have been given on ground training by the officials and this would certainly prevent the damage caused by flooding,” said Nagapattinam Collector Praveen P Nair.

He also said that the officials are instructed to enumerate the paddy fields where they could not drain water and initiate steps for paying compensation.

Monitoring officer C Muniyanathan inaugurated the special camp for training the farmers at Keezhaiyur and instructed the farmers to use the techniques given by the department to control pests post-floods.

Meanwhile, the sugarcane farmers demanded Rs 1 lakh per acre as compensation. They said that the sugarcane would be ready in a month, but the water failed to drain away that would damage the entire crop and so the district administration should recommend for the compensation and get them at the earliest, the farmers said.