Dhamnagar: Farmers in 18 panchayats under Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district are facing gloom as drought has dashed their hopes of harvesting a bumper paddy crop this year. Their despair follows back-to-back floods and pest onslaught on crop that damaged paddy.
Farmers lamented that when the paddy plants were ready to give forth shoots, the land had no water to nurture the plants. The farmers said when the drought prospects were looming, the agriculture and irrigation departments did nothing to save the crops from drying up in thousands of acres. Worse, some lift irrigation points are not working.
“Had they been working, paddy in some acres could have been saved,” the farmers observed.
Most of the panchayats do not have irrigation facilities and agriculture is solely dependent on rains. When Hrudananda Mallick was MLA, he, with his efforts, had built nearly 200 lift irrigation points in the area. Over the years, those irrigation points have conked out for lack of regular maintenance and repair. Some irrigation points do not have electricity. Farmers have expressed their unhappiness over such a situation.
Drought situation has cropped up in Dhususri, Kothari, Nadigaon, Arjunpur, Hasanabad, Dalanga, Padhani, Karda, Bayangdihi, Khadipada, Anandapur, Sahaspur, Raipur, Palasahi, Bamkura, Kasimpur, Sohada, Bhattasahi, Dobal and Fatehpur panchayats.
Losing hope of paddy harvest, people have started grazing their cattle in the farmlands.
Now, farmers in some panchayats are bracing themselves for an agitation to get the block declared as drought affected by the state government.
Secretary of farmers’ outfit Krushak Sabha, Bidyadhar Rout, said there are no check dams in creeks and rivers while the government talks big about its initiatives for boosting agriculture. “All declarations are confined to only pen and paper,” he added.
PNN
