Income-generation activities of residents in coastal belt and interior parts of Thanjavur district are yet to gain momentum even a year after the fury unleashed by Gaja cyclone.
Coconut farming and allied activities, fishing and fishing related business took a heavy beating in the cyclone that hit the coast in November 2018. Hundreds of mechanised fishing vessels and thousands of country boats were damaged at Adhiramapattinam, Mallipattinam and Sethubhavachatram areas; over 35 lakh coconut trees in the coastal areas and interior areas such as Pattukottai, Peravurani and Orathanadu were uprooted.
Though the State government came to their rescue by releasing necessary material and financial assistance and a lot of support was extended by social service organisations, the impact was colossal. The affected people were unable to revive their income generation activities due to various constraints, said Hassan Ali of Adhiramapattinam.
Stating that his family’s primary income earning activity was fishing, Hassan Ali said his forefathers had taken up coconut farming in a small scale two decades ago as a supplementary income earning activity. “Now the Gaja cyclone had ruined both means of earning,” he lamented.
Echoing a similar situation, Nagarajan of Thuraiyur near Sethubhavachatram said horticultural crops at their family’s coconut and mango grooves have lost their fruit-bearing capacity as they were hit by the high velocity wind. “Mango trees have not yielded even a single fruit. The top-portion of coconut trees were blown away by the heavy wind,” he added.
On its part, the district administration has disbursed relief to the tune of about ₹ 450 crore to the people affected by the calamity.
