Heavy Rain causes heavy loss to many farmers of Diglipur region; Farmers demand compensation

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Dec. 06: There is no respite from the wrath of the sporadic and untimely rain these days in Diglipur and which has caused havoc to the Rabi crops and vegetable in the fields here.
As per report, the low lying areas were submerged with flood waters and the crops were under water. The farmers sustained huge losses due to this undesired rain and resultant flood. The ruthless rain has caused damage to the entire crops multiple times in the recent past.
Consequently, its effects have also fallen on the price of vegetables. “The price of vegetables was already exorbitant and now it will be beyond our (common man’s) capacity”, said the general public. “At present the market price of aubergine (brinjal), lady’s fingers, bitter gourd is Rs. 140/- and undeniably this ill-timed rain will have its adverse effects on the farmers and the consumers as well,” common men said.
While a peasant sharing his grievous situation said, “I took a piece of land on lease with Rs. 10,000/- and spent thousands of rupees in purchasing seeds, manure and pesticides, leave alone my hard work, everything gone, I am totally ruined”, lamented the wretched farmer. Similarly, vegetable farmers who sowed seeds and seedlings have sustained severe loss; every time they sow the seeds, the seeds start sprouting and when they start growing the unpredicted rain damages the seedlings at their budding stage, bemoaned another farmer who also fell victim to this unkind heavy shower.
On the other hand, the untimely and ruthless rain has wreaked havoc on fully ripe paddy in the fields of the paddy growers as well. The farmers haven’t been able to garner or harvest the ripe paddy due to this ill-timed and unheralded rain. Trail of devastating damage to the ripe paddy can be seen as it is still lying in the field. The gusty rain had laid the ripe paddy on the bed of the field.
The corollaries have altogether triggered a huge crisis of vegetables in the market as the production is being severely affected at the farm/field by this rain. As a result, the price of vegetables has skyrocketed while people with no choice are forced to dig into their pockets.
Meanwhile, voice has already been raised from different political platforms with the plea to the administration to assess the extent of damage of paddy and other crops due to this untimely rain and extend possible financial ex gratia to the affected farmers, a source said.