Six lakh acres paddy submerged in Punjab

Due to heavy rainfall and flooding in Punjab paddy crop over atleast 6 lakh acres have suffered damages out of which crop over 2 lakh acres have been completely swept away and needs to be resown

Due to heavy rainfall and flooding paddy crop over atleast 6 lakh acres have suffered damages out of which crop over 2 lakh acres have been completely swept away and needs to be resown.

The areas which have witnessed floods had 90% crop sown. (ANI File)

Crop in districts Ropar, Mohali, Sangrur, Ludhiana, Moga, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur and Jalandhar have suffered damages, while districts Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib. In Fatehgarh 32,000 acres have suffered heavy losses, and in Patiala 12,500 acres will be resown. “District Ropar has received lots of flood water and its areas are still submerged but quantum of loss to crop is less as compared to other districts,” said director agriculture Gurvinder Singh.

The districts of Muktsar, Bathinda, Mansa and Fazilka suffered negligible losses as there was less rainfall as compared to worst other districts. “This is a preliminary report and exact quantum of losses will be known later,” added the director. A formal girdawari to assess the lsos will be initiated when the water will recede. The rain has fallen at a stage when 80-90% crop area was sown. In Punjab paddy is sown over about 74 lakh acres.

The agriculture department is carrying out surveys and according to the officials the losses may rise in case flood water takes a few more days to recede. The areas which have witnessed floods had 90% crop sown. According to Singh the crop to be resown has already been delayed as the fresh transplantation nurseries are to be set up again. “At all the places where crop have suffered damages the farmers had to set up nurseries afresh for which they have been advised to transplant late sown variety PR 126 variety for which seeds are available with state’s corporation Punseed, which has been asked to made available seeds to the farmers,” he added. The farmers, according to Singh have been advised to opt for premium aromatic variety Basmati which can be sown late for best results. Singh adds that the situation has worsened due to breaches at two places in Ghaggar in Sangrur district and its impact will be known by Friday.