Nearly 7,500 acres of paddy crop was damaged due to heavy rainfall in the past two days in Erode district. Farmers estimate a loss of at least Rs2 lakh per acre.

Sudden heavy rainfall lashed parts of the district on Wednesday and Thursday. Areas such as Vairapalayam, Karungalpalayam, Vandikkaran thottam received heavy rain and water stagnated on the paddy fields. "Most farmers in the district began harvesting the crop about three or four days ago. We didn't expect rain at this time and nearly 95% of the crop has been submerged under rain water," said S K Paramasivam, a farmer in Karungalpalayam. He said that the land owners brought labourers from Namakkal and its surrounded districts to carry out harvesting work. Now they were demanding almost double the wage to carry out the work due to flood water. Usually, male workers are paid Rs. 300 per day while women get Rs. 250 as wage. Now, they were demanding Rs.500 for men and Rs.400 for women as they have to stand in the water to carry out their work. "The labourers have to stand in knee-deep water while for harvesting. We have no option but to pay the increased wage," the farmer said.

Most farmers in the district fear that crop failure due to flood could result in huge debt as they took loans from many nationalised banks. "The bank officials are never sympathetic to our cause. The will demand payment within the due date," said a farmer. The farmers have sought compensation from district administration for the loss incurred. "We will be happy if we get some compensation. We have requested the collector to revenue officials to estimate the loss incurred at the earliest," said C Senthamarai, another farmer.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/