Nawanshahr, November 12
The health of a large number of people and cattle is at stake as farmers of four villages sell their selenium-affected fodder and foodgrains to unsuspecting consumers.
At the same time, these farmers, tilling about 1000 acre of land, are themselves suffering and are forced to grow crops on this “poisonous” land, or “cancer waali zameen”, as the locals call it. The government authorities and agencies have failed to take any measure to reclaim these lands, or to provide an alternative livelihood to these farmers.
People of villages and townships near the land are aware of the ill effects of the crops grown in the area and don’t buy it. Farmers of the selenium-affected land have, however, become smart and are allegedly selling their produce in markets of other districts like Ropar and Hoshiarpur. They are also sending their sugarcane to mills, reveal sources in the Punjab Agriculture Department.
The department has estimated that the total land with excessive selenium is about 1000 acre, spread over four villages.
It is said the produce of such land could cause baldness. The green fodder has a more deadly effect on animals, which not only lose hair and nails, but also turn weak as they stop eating. Their reproductive system is also affected.
Farmers of the villages, Barwa (727.5 acre), Rakran Dhahan (72.5 acre), Jainpur (125 acre), and Mahendpur (75 acre), grow crops like sugarcane, wheat, paddy, maize, toria, mustard and fodder.
The farmers are well aware of the damage their produce can cause. There is no provision to detect the deadly selenium in the produce in any of the markets.
“As nothing has been done by the
Agriculture Department or the Mandi Board to reclaim the land, we have no option but to grow and sell crops for our survival,” rues a farmer of Barwa village.
The Punjab Agriculture Department and the Balachaur SDM’s office have repeatedly recommended to the higher authorities a number of corrective measures like installation of deep tubewells, provision of canal water, use of gypsum and zinc sulphate, and discontinuation of crops like paddy and fruit trees and their replacement with fast-growing trees like poplar.
Farmers fear that lands adjoining the affected farms could also get the “disease”, apart from chances of selenium polluting the groundwater.
