Agriculture Dept assesses crop loss in Sonepat, Panipat

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, July 31

Heavy rains and floods in the Yamuna have caused a huge loss to farmers in Panipat and Sonepat, damaging crops in 11,000 acres in Sonepat, while crops in 9,573 acres were damaged in Panipat district due to heavy floods in the Yamuna area. Gohana reported crop loss in about 22,000 acres due to heavy rain on July 25 and July 26.

Thousands of acres affected

• Floods have damaged various crops spread across 20,000 acres in fields of Sonepat and Panipat districts
• At Gohana, heavy rain has affected crops in 22,000 acres

About 45-km area in Panipat district and 41.74-km area in Sonepat district is at the river bank. Standing crops of sugarcane, paddy, fodder crop, vegetables like pumpkin, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, sweet corn and tomato were damaged. Land in Gohana area was also submerged.

As many as 26 villages have been affected due to the floods in Sonepat district and crop standing in 10,733 acres has been affected badly due to flooding. As per data of the Agriculture Department, 3,640 acres were inundated in Gannaur, 6,003 acres in Rai block and 1,090 acres in Sonepat block.

In Gohana, the Agriculture Department has sent an estimated report of crop loss due to heavy rain to the government. As per the report, the crop-wise loss is — jwar in 4,000 acres, cotton crop in 1,006 acres, paddy in 35,082 acres and bajra in 1,920 acres.

In Panipat, the estimated crop loss was reported in 9,537 acres due to heavy rain. As per department report, loss pertains to paddy crop in 5,307 acres, sugarcane in 2,199 acres, horticulture and other crops in 1,284 acres, cotton in 8 acres, and fodder, etc., in 739 acres.

Devender Kuhar, subject matter specialist at the Agriculture Department, said around 46 per cent farmers had registered at Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal in Sonepat, while 24 per cent had uploaded their data in Panipat district.

Raj Kumar Bhoria, DRO, Panipat, said they had sent a report of water-affected areas due to the overflow in Yamuna at Bapoli area.

Hariom Atri, DRO, Sonepat, said about 12,082 hectare (around 8,000 acres due to the Yamuna and 22,000 acres in Gohana) had been affected due to heavy rain or flooding in the district. Water still stood in around 30,000 acres of the district, he said. Farmers had been told to upload their crop damage on e-fasal kshatipurti portal.