Rain cheers Rohtak farmers

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, July 22

After making farmers and residents wait for several weeks, rain finally brought cheer to them in Rohtak today. While the city dwellers rejoiced in the monsoon showers, the farmers in the district villages heaved a sigh of relief.

The long-awaited spell of rain has brought much-needed relief to the farmers, a majority of whom were waiting for the weather God’s signal to begin the plantation of paddy in their fields.

“The farmers of at least 25-30 villages in the Meham area were not getting canal water. Hence, they were waiting for it to rain so that they could start their paddy plantation. Rain is also good for sugarcane, bajra and cotton crops, vegetable and fruit plants,” said Sanjay, a farmer of Madina village in Rohtak district.

The local farmers pointed out that due to the lack of canal water and scanty rainfall, only about 50-60 per cent of paddy plantation was carried out so far.

The farmers as well as agriculture experts said the plantation of paddy and sowing of bajra would pick up now.

“Due to the lack of canal water and scanty rainfall till now, only those farmers could transplant paddy who had sufficient resources like diesel to fill their fields with tubewell water. However, the paddy does not grow well without sufficient rain or canal water,” stated Krishan, a farmer of Ritoli village.

Other farmers also said the rain would be beneficial for all crops and plants and the moisture in the air was also good for the crops sown during this part of the year.

“The transplantation of paddy is likely to pick up with the rain lashing the region. The sowing of bajra crops will also speed up,” asserted Rakesh Kumar, Quality Control Inspector at the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare in Rohtak.

He said the rain at this point of time was good for sugarcane, bajra, cotton, fruits and vegetables, even the air pollution would come down and moisture increase in the air, which was beneficial for all crops and plants.

Nonetheless, the brief spell of rain also exposed the hollowness of the tall claims made by the district administration and municipal authorities, with the city’s sewerage system getting choked and rainwater accumulating on roads and streets instead of getting drained out promptly.

Many residents and commuters had to face inconvenience due to their vehicles getting stuck on roads due to waterlogging.

The pedestrians also faced a lot of difficulty in negotiating through knee-deep water to reach their homes, offices and markets etc.