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.
Ranipet Collector D. Bhasakara Pandian said that the crop damage would only increase in the coming days due to continuous rain in the district with an average of 20 mm in key agricultural areas.
On Saturday, a Minor Irrigation (MI) tank in Athipet village breached resulting in inundation of crops.
Livestock loss
Vellore stands second with crop loss on 433.83 hectares, followed by Tirupattur faced with crop loss on 102.05 hectares as on Saturday. However, Vellore has the highest livestock loss with 14,800 fowls and eight cattle.
Meanwhile, 17,151 cuecs of water has been released from Mordhana reservoir into the Palar as on 8 p.m. on Saturday with a warning issued by Vellore Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian to residents asking them not to venture near waterbodies as the release of water from the reservoir will be increased.
