Puducherry: Over 8,900 hectare area under paddy lost in rain

The government said it would incur an expenditure of Rs 17.91 crore to disburse Rs 20,000 as compensation for a hectare of paddy damaged in the floods.

December 05, 2015 11:37 am | Updated March 24, 2016 02:01 pm IST - Puducherry

As much as 8,955 hectare area under paddy cultivation has been damaged by the unprecedented torrential rain that has hit the union territory.

Chief Minister N Rangasamy said that 11,418 farmers who raised paddy have been baffled by the massive loss in the devastation.

While, 4,420 hectare area under paddy was damaged in Puducherry, in Karaikal the figure stood at 4,248.34 hectare and in Yanam the extent of damage was 287.15 hectare.

The government said it would incur an expenditure of Rs 17.91 crore to disburse Rs 20,000 as compensation for a hectare of paddy damaged in the floods.

In the union territory, 1,544 hectare under sugarcane cultivation also bored the brunt of the heavy rains, while eight hectare area under betel leaf cultivation was damaged.

The government announced compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare for areas under betel leaf cultivation and Rs 15,000 per hectare for areas under cultivation of sugarcane. This would entail a total compensation of Rs 2.71 crore to 1,508 sugarcane farmers and 57 farmers cultivating betel leaf.

The government has also assessed loss of vegetables to an extent of 168.10 hectare in the three regions and a sum of Rs 25.21 lakh would be disbursed as compensation at the rate of Rs 15,000 per hectare of vegetables lost.

The Chief Minister said that 297.73 hectare area under plantain crop has been damaged and Rs 35,000 per hectare would be provided as compensation.

Tapioca and other types of tuber crop raised on 231.9 hectare has been lost and the government would spend Rs 34.78 lakh for disbursement of Rs 15,000 per hectare lost.

Compensations for loss of flowers, cotton and pulses have also been decided.

Mr. Rangasamy said the government has decided to defray Rs 22.08 crore for crop loss out of Rs 150 crore earmarked as relief package for damages made by the rain.

Puducherry has been battered by heavy rains since the beginning of November and officials have assessed that such a quantum of downpour had not been seen in the last 100 years.

The total rainfall that would normally be received during the three month period of October, November and December under the influence of North East monsoon has been received in one month (November) alone in Puducherry.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.