Heavy rains threaten paddy, cotton crops in Punjab

Large tracts of paddy and cotton fields are affected by floods in various parts of Punjab, raising a fear of heavy loss to crops.
The Punjab government has ordered for an early assessment of damage to crops due to heavy rains lashing various parts of the state.
Among the worst affected areas were Muktsar, Mansa and Fazilka districts of Punjab where large tracts of fields sown under major kharif crops - paddy and cotton - are submerged.
As per reports, 10,000 hectares of paddy and 15,000- 16,000 hectares of cotton fields were flooded with water because of torrential rains in the past few days in the Muktsar district.

In Fazilka district, 30,000 hectares of land under paddy and 40,000 hectares of cotton crop got submerged into water, an official of Punjab Agriculture department said today.
"We fear up to 10 per cent loss in cotton output in flooded fields as it is a sensitive crop. However, in case of paddy, if water level recedes in 2-3 days, then there will not be much loss," said an official.

In Mansa district, the agriculture department has said because of rains between September 1 and 4, an area of 6,000 acres of cotton and 300 acres of paddy was affected and the expected crop loss in these fields could be in the range of 20-25 per cent.

"The early assessment on crop damage is still going on and the final report will be ready by tomorrow," said a senior official adding that there could be damage to crops because of rains.
Meanwhile, Punjab Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon in Muktsar district said 6 villages in Muktsar constituency, 3 in Gidderbaha constituency, 19 villages in Lambi and 13 villages in Malout constituency were affected by heavy rainfall.
He said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was personally monitoring relief works in the state and assured that the government would provide relief to all affected people.
The Irrigation Minister said in Muktsar district during the last three days, 84 mm rainfall was recorded, out of which 70 mm rainfall was in a single day.

The minister said the irrigation department has been asked to remove water from low-lying areas and fields to prevent loss.
Dhillon said the government had already spent Rs 125 crore on the drainage system and construction of other civil works in South-West Punjab.
He said that more than 1,000 km of drains were cleaned this year by the drainage wing of Irrigation Department. He said that Rs 16 crore and 9.5 crore were spent on cleaning of ChandBhan drain and Jalalabad-Maujam drain, respectively.