A Central inter-ministerial committee, that has come to Tamil Nadu, extensively inspected damaged crops in Ramanathapuram district on Friday.
Presenting the damages, officials from the district administration said that the district’s normal annual average rainfall for January was 48.50 mm. However, the unseasonal rains accounted for 248.74 mm. Many low-lying areas were inundated due to the widespread rains last month, they said and added that though efforts were made, draining the water from the fields was not possible for various reasons. As a result, the crops, which included paddy, chilly and small grains had been completely destroyed.
The officials said that the survey in the district put the loss at 87,596 hectares, which included 79,210 ha of paddy, 1,297 ha of oil seeds, 4,059 ha of small grains, among others. Farmers at Mandapam, Kuyavankudi, Kazhugu Oorani, Karkaathakudi village in Tiruvadanai and other pockets have been affected.
The Central government officials included Asutosh Agnihotri, Joint Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr. Manokaran, Director Oil Seeds, Ministry of Agriculture, Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Director Ministry of Agriculture and Chinna Samy from the Ministry of Rural Development.
TN Disaster Management Commissioner D. Jaganathan, District Revenue Officer A. Sivakami, Sub-Collector N. O. Sugaputra, Joint Director (Agriculture) S. S. Sheik Abdullah and others accompanied them.
At many villages, the officials interacted with the farmers regarding the rain last month and the losses they had incurred. The farmers also submitted petitions seeking compensation and infrastructural facilities which would protect their crops in the future.
