Nearly 2,000 hectares of paddy fields submerged in Ranipet
The Hindu
Crop damage bound to increase due to continuous rain
With the sudden rise in water level in the Palar for the past few days, nearly 2,000 hectares of paddy fields in Ranipet district were submerged in water. Officials said that key agricultural areas, like Nemeli, Thimiri, Arcot, Kaveripakkam, Wallajah and Sholinghalur, witnessed inundation of agricultural lands where paddy, banana and groundnut had been cultivated for the second season.
Among the most affected regions, Nemili along the Palar has faced huge crop loss on 479 hectares, mostly paddy, followed by Thimiri and Arcot region in the district. Apart from paddy cultivation, 382 hectares of horticulture crops were also affected due to the rise in water level in the Palar.
“Sudden gush of water from nearby lake flooded my paddy crop on four acres, which I was planning to harvest in a fortnight,” said R. Saravanan, a farmer in Arcot region.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.