Farmers in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai reeling after Nivar
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The revenue earned by promoting Kenthai flowers, grown on two acres of agricultural land in Sholavaram in Vellore district, was the one supply of earnings for 37-year-old Chitra to feed her household and educate her daughter. However, Cyclone Nivar destroyed all her flowers and left her hapless.
“My husband is no more and my daughter is in college. If I sow seeds for close to ₹5,000, I will get flowers worth ₹15,000. I sell them to vendors at the Vellore market and I earn a profit of ₹7,500. But the cyclone destroyed all the flowers,” she mentioned.
Many farmers like her in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts have been affected by Cyclone Nivar. According to preliminary estimates made by the Vellore district administration, near 200 acres of land have been affected. In Tiruvannamalai district, over 2,273 hectares of land have been broken.
J. Rajkumar, who owns three acres of land in Kalpattu village in Tiruvannamalai’s Polur taluk, mentioned he sustained heavy monetary loss on account of crop harm. “I had 550 plantain saplings and corn. The yield would have fetched me a profit of ₹2.5 lakh. But this time, I will face a loss,” he mentioned.
An estimate of the agricultural loss is being carried out in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts. “It will be sent to the government and the farmers will be compensated,” mentioned an official from Vellore.
However, farmers are sad with the compensation offered by the federal government. “We spend close to ₹100 in planting the saplings and maintaining it, and it fetches us ₹250 per bunch. But the government provides ₹5 as compensation per banana crop. This has to be increased. We have been fighting for this for a long time now,” mentioned S. Udayakumar, Vellore district secretary, Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam.
Better coordination
Meanwhile, higher coordination between numerous authorities departments helped stop an excessive amount of harm in the district. “We had already geared up to handle the cyclone.We identified the vulnerable areas and our first responders were alert, and relief centres were identified and prepared. We deployed additional teams when we came to know that the cyclone would pass through Vellore,” mentioned an official from the Vellore district administration.
The officers additionally evacuated over 1,000 residents from the banks of the Ponnai and the Koundinya.
“There was not too much of an issue in Vellore city as the drains were desilted, the retaining wall was constructed and the bed level was deepened. Due to this, the carrying capacity increased. Hence, there was not much inundation in Vellore town, except in Kansalpet area and Thideer Nagar,” mentioned an official.
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