In what could be termed as a worst nightmare for farmers, massive paddy fields of over 50 farmers were destroyed as incessant rain lashed Manipur's Ukhrul district over the last couple of days.
The flood has destroyed not only the paddy fields but fields terrace in addition to filling the fields with massive piles of sand, stone and filth and had seriously affected irrigation channels requiring enormous labour and money to clear the damage.
The heavy downpour in the area has doomed farmers’ hope of bumper harvest as the disaster brought by the flood played spoilsport much to the dismay of the farmers when they are expecting harvest in a few weeks’ time, more so with the month of October fast approaching.
The flood affected several fields of Chingjaroi Khullen in the remote north of Manipur's Ukhrul district under Chingai assembly constituency.
ALSO READ: Flash flood destroys paddy fields in Ukhrul
Following the reports of flood incident in the village, 45 Chingai assembly constituency MLA, Khashim Vashum, who is also the incumbent Minister of Transport, Veterinary and Animal Husbandry, directed SDO Jessami block to visit the affected farmers and take stock of the situation.
Acting on the instruction, the Jessami SDO block swiftly deputed a team to take stock of the situation on Wednesday evening.
The team also collected the affected farmers' details for necessary remedial measures.
Taropula, Alinroh, Kazankhra, Vongze, etc., were some of the several paddy fields worst affected by the sudden flash flood.
One Ayo Soro, a local who had suffered huge loss, told the IFP on Thursday that the flood has destroyed approximately 600ft by 200 ft square of his Kazhenkhra field. The flood has also completely destroyed his Alinroli paddy field with all his standing crops found completely submerged under sand and stone, he said.
When I went to my field to see if anything had happened, all I found was sand and stone, Ayo lamented.
Informing the Imphal Free Press on Thursday, AS. Solomon, headman of Chingjaroi Khullen, revealed that the villagers are witnessing such magnitude of rain for the first time which had led to massive flash flood in the wee hour, destroying huge chunks of paddy fields when the farmers were hoping for rich dividends after months of hard labour.
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"Alas! the flood has destroyed everything and the poor farmers are staring at an uncertain future," Solomon lamented.
Agriculture is our main occupation and given the large-scale damage, farmers are at loss to tighten over the complicated situation brought by the flood, he continued and "fervently appealed to the State Government to intervene and look into the genuine plights faced by the farmers”.
"Any farmers would understand the pain we are going through. When we are so close to harvesting our hard labour, the fury brought by the flood has taken away everything in a blink," the village headman poured out his heart wrenching concerns as he joined hands with the poor farmers in their sufferings.
Meanwhile, Chingjaroi Khullen village authority expressed their immense gratitude to Minister Khashim Vashum for sending a team to look into the grievances of the farmers.
The village authority also thanked Jessami block SDO for their swift action.
Chingjaroi is under Jessami block.
IFP has reported about the havoc caused by the flash flood at Chingjaroi Khullen in remote north of Manipur's Ukhrul district.
The flash flood has also affected the undergoing Pump reservoir tank construction of Water augmentation scheme under NDB.
It may be mentioned that several standing paddy plants at Chingjaroi Khullen were severely affected by the dry spell in 2021.
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