Farmers yet to drain floodwater from fields

Tarn Taran, July 15

The downstream water flow from Sutlej river to the Harike headworks remained 44,000 cusecs like yesterday. Farmers have yet to drain floodwater from their fields.

As per reports, 8,000 acre of land in 35 worse-affected villages of the Patti sub-division is covered with sand of the rivers.

Gurmeet Singh owns 16 acres in Ram Singh Wala village, Kuldeep Singh owns 10 acres in Muthianwala village, Lakhwinder Singh owns eight acres in Kutiwala village, Bawa Singh owns five acres in Jalloke village and Gurmel Singh owns 35 acres in Toot village.

These farmers said they had lost hope to plant paddy in their fields in the present season as sand had covered their fields and made farming unproductive. The famers demanded that the government should give them compensation and permission to remove sand from their fields.

The most affected villages are Booh, Kutiwala, Sabhra, Jalloke, Sito Meh Jhugian, Bhaowal, Toot, Ram Singh Wala, Bhangala, Ghadunm and Muthianwala.

The farmers in the Mand area said their crops including green fodder had washed away in floods. They were facing acute shortage of dry and green fodder.

Officials of the Agriculture Department said the survey of the damage to crops had not started yet because of the waterlogging in the Mand area.

In the official record, crops on 25,000 hectares had been damaged in Tarn Taran district while famers were claiming that the figure was 32,000 hectares.