Rain flattens wheat crop, floods potato fields

Jalandhar, February 29

Heavy rain along with hailstorm and strong winds lashed the region on Saturday, flattening wheat crop.

There are reports of flattening of wheat, which had just started developing grain, along with waterlogging of ready-to-harvest fields of potato crop. The wheat crop on land along the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road near Adampur fell flat. Similar reports were received from Patara, Johalan, Hazara, Nangal Shama, Puranpur and Talhan villages on this side.

Jagjit Singh, a farmer from Sammipur village, said, “We had just started harvesting potato when the rainy weather set in. We’ll have to wait for the rainwater to seep in before we can resume the work.”

Since it is the maize-sowing season, the farmers who had just ploughed the fields and sown its seed said they would have to do it all over again.

Agriculture Officer Naresh Gulati said, “We advised the farmers against watering the crop these days as rain was expected. There are a few reports of flattening of crops but we are yet to get the complete assessment.” — TNS

Canal breach inundates 100 acres in Fazilka

Fazilka: Nearly 25-ft breach occurred in a minor canal near Bandiwala village of Fazilka district, inundating standing wheat crop on about 100 acres. Farmers said the breach had occurred for the second time at the same place in the last few months. OC