Drought-Like Situation Hits Crop Lands of Dhakuakhana, Lakhimpur
A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: Like the other parts of the State, a drought like situation has hit the crop lands of Dhakuakhana subdivision in Lakhimpur district due to low precipitation.
An alarming drought-like situation has hit North Assam for almost a month after the devastating flood in July. This situation has affected not only Lakhimpur, but also Biswanath, Sonitpur and Dhemaji districts of North Assam impacting negatively upon the agricultural productivity in the region as there was no adequate precipitation during the past days.
During these days, the continuous scorching heat of the sun has dried up a major part of the paddy fields in addition to affecting normal life. Due to this situation, water in vast areas of crop land, besides the shallow paddy fields of the district, is getting dry day by day. The drought-like situation has hit most of the paddy fields under North Lakhimpur, Naoboicha, Bihpuriya, Narayanpur, Kadam and Dhakuakhana revenue circles in the district.
Simultaneously, most of the paddy fields of the district have been attacked by rice hispa, a kind of harmful insect that sucks the crop. In this regard, an elaborate report was published in the August 23 issue of The Sentinel. At present, several paddy fields are reportedly under the attack of swarming caterpillar.
In Dhakuakhana, the dried up Shali paddy fields have got splitting due to low precipitation or lack of precipitation. For the same reason, most of the Bao paddy plants are also getting dry. Despite such a situation, the Executive Engineer Office of the Dhakuakhana Irrigation Subdivision is not potent enough to supply a single drop of water to the dry paddy fields. At present, there are five irrigation schemes under the subdivisional office- the Dangdhara Irrigation Scheme of Rs. 2.92 crore, Thekeraguri Irrigation Scheme of Rs. 2.46 crore, Jalbhari Irrigation Scheme of Rs. 3.02 crore, Sonari Chapori Irrigation Scheme of Rs. 3.33 crore and Bilmukh Patir Irrigation Scheme of Rs. 2.75 crore. But the matter of concern is that the farmers of the subdivision are benefitted from none of the above mentioned irrigation schemes during these testing times.
As per report from official sources, two water hoisting machines out of four, each of Dangdhora and Jalbhari Irrigation Schemes, are non-functional now. Similarly, all water hoisting machines of Jalbari and Sonari Chapori Schemes, four out of six machines of Bilmukh Patir Schemes are also in non-functional condition. Lack of co-ordination among the three sections - civil, mechanical and electrical - under the Irrigation Department is considered to be the root cause of five irrigation schemes worth Rs 14 crore lying defunct. The aggrieved farmers have demanded the Irrigation Minister to pay attention to these non-functional schemes of the subdivision under his department.