Outer bund of Metran Kayal breached

In what appears to be an attempt to sabotage the resumption of paddy cultivation at the Metran Kayal and destroy the paddy which is ready for harvest, the outer bund of the polder was broken allowing water from the Vembanad lake into the paddy field.

According to Babu of Kareethra House who is one of the paddy farmers at the polder, he found the water gushing in through the breach during a routine visit to the area on Monday evening. “The four-meter wide outer bund was found broken for over two meters,” he said. The bund was constructed with mud and reinforced with granite.

“There is no doubt that it was broken by miscreants who wanted to sabotage the paddy cultivation in the polder,” he said. He soon called other cultivators and the breached portion was temporarily secured with logs of coconut tree, mud from the polder and plastic sheets by late night.

Work on mending the breach on a permanent basis commenced on Tuesday. Meanwhile, farmers have formed a jagratha samithi to intensify the security at the polder. According to Kumarakom police, they have doubled the security at the polders by pressing in two boats with two policemen each round-the-clock.

The resumption of paddy cultivation at Metran Kayal has been a flagship project of the LDF government. Cultivation resumed after eight years when Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar inaugurated the sowing on November 8 last. Cultivation was taken up in more than 10 acres in the first phase, but soon spread to nearly 300 acres of the 417-acre polder.

The polder had raised a controversy when it was bought by Rakindo, a gulf-based realtor, from the farmers for developing it into a major tourism destination. Ever since paddy cultivation resumed in their polder, the farmers had put in security measures fearing sabotage from those who were opposed to the farming operations.