Chief Agriculture Officer, Kathua visits  paddy fields damaged due Sudden heavy downpours, assures support

KATHUA October 18: Chief Agriculture Officer, Kathua Sh. Sanjeev Rai Gupta along with his team of officers and officials visited vast affected areas of paddy fields in the Marheen, Hiranagar, Airwan and Kathua zones for on spot assessment of the scale of damage caused to standing paddy crop due to Heavy rain on late Saturday night which has added to the worries of farmers as their paddy crop is ready for harvesting. Unseasonal rain led to waterlogging in many low-lying areas, besides lodging of paddy crop in the district.

 Upon meeting Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua, Farmers from the paddy grown areas apprised him that the rain has slowed down the pace of harvesting as the fields have become wet and it would be difficult for them to harvest the matured paddy. Meanwhile, heavy rain accompanied by strong winds in past few days has increased the chances of damage to paddy crop in the district.

 An area of 6347.93 ha and 11229.00 ha under paddy coverage in Sub Division Dayalachak and Sub Division Kathua respectively has been reportedly affected due to the incessant rains in past few days. The worst affected paddy (basmati) varieties are the Pusa Basmati 1121, & Basmati- 370 and lodging of the two varieties in the field has been observed in an area of 6940.00 ha.

Sh. Sanjeev Rai Gupta, Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua assured farmers that teams has been directed to assess the damage and losses caused. He also directed officials to help farmers holding Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima to file complain with Insurance service provider in stipulated time as timely registration of complaints helps in ensuring better services.

Chief Agriculture Officer, Kathua was also accompanied by Sh. Karan Attri D.D.C Marheen, Sh. Shiv Dev Singh Pradhan, Rashtriya Kisan Union, Sh. Ravi Kumar, Sarpanch Haripur, Sh. Ashok, Panch, Gopalachak, Sh. Ashwani Sharma, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer, Hiranagar (H.Q. Dayalachak), Sh. Parshottam Gupta, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer, Kathua, Sh. Jamshed Andotra, A.E.O Marheen, Sh. Vinod Sharma, A.E.O Hiranagar and Sh. Sanjiv Chib A.E.O Rajbagh.