Hooghy, 2 August (H.S.) Amid heavy rains for the last few days, the DVC has increased the amount of water released, causing extensive damage to paddy and vegetable cultivation in South Bengal. The release of DVC water has worsened the situation in Arambagh. Water is flowing over the Arambagh-Kolkata state highway in Mayapur. The water level has risen in Rupnarayan, Mundeshwari and Damodar rivers. Many paddy fields are submerged in water. This will cause paddy plants to rot. Even if the water recedes, replanting will not be possible due to lack of seeds. Vegetable prices are rising rapidly due to rain. Many mud houses have collapsed in various districts. As a result, the number of damaged mud houses is increasing day by day. In East Burdwan district alone, 196 mud houses have collapsed while 625 houses have been damaged. 300 mud houses were damaged in Bankura district. Of these, 84 houses were completely destroyed. A temporary bridge in Keshpur block of West Medinipur has been badly damaged by the flow of water. A youth was drowned while fishing in Tentultala of Daspur police station area. The body of a youth named Uttam Naik (18) was recovered after about 28 hours of search.
According to agriculture department sources, seed beds were made late this year due to water shortage. But due to continuous rains, many seed beds have been destroyed. Seeds of many fields have been destroyed in Aushgram of East Burdwan district. Along with this, many fields have also been damaged in Arambagh and West Medinipur.
Agriculture experts say that if the transplantation of paddy is completed by August 15, then there will be no effect on the yield. However, if paddy is cultivated after that, the yield may be slightly less. However, except for some districts, overall paddy cultivation has been good so far. Continuous rains have proved to be a boon for districts like Purulia, Bankura and Birbhum. In other years, many high lands in these districts used to remain fallow due to lack of water. This time paddy cultivation has been done in those fields as well. According to administrative sources, water has been released from Maithon reservoir at the rate of 22,000 cusecs. 33,000 cusecs of water has been released from Panchet. To deal with the situation, water was released from Durgapur Barrage at the rate of 63,650 cusecs. The increase in the amount of water released by the DVC has affected paddy cultivation in East Burdwan and Hooghly. Many fields in Raina, Khandaghosh and Jamalpur blocks have been submerged due to the water released by the DVC.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey
