Kharif crops on 20,000 hectare in Buxar dist damaged in flood

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Buxar: Standing crops on about 20,000 hectare of land were destroyed in the devastating flood in river Ganga this year in Buxar district.

District Agriculture Officer (DAO), Buxar, Ranveer Singh said that about one lakh hectare was covered for kharif cultivation in Buxar district this year but crops on about 20,000 hectare worth about Rs 11 crore were completely destroyed in the flood under seven of the eleven blocks in devastatedthe district. He said Buxar, Chausa, Itadhi, Simari, Chakki, Brahmpur and Rajpur blocks were affected by the flood in river Ganga.

The DAO said that crops on 1,237 hectare under Buxar, on 2,175 hectare under Chausa, on 2,055 hectare under Simari, on 456 hectare under Chakki, on 7,136.9 hectare under Brahmpur, on 750 hectare under Rajpur and on 3,495 hectare  under Itadhi blocks were  destroyed in the flood. He said that the agriculture department is planning to encourage the affected farmers to adopt alternative farming to compensate their loss and for this seeds will be distributed among them. On the other hand, farmers, Brajesh Pathak, Kameshwar Singh and others said that the loss was far more than the assessment of the district administration. They said that the district administration hadfailed to assess the loss in the remote villages.

Meanwhile, the minister-in-charge, Buxar district Shiv Chandra Ram along with Buxar DM Raman Kumar and other  officials of the district visited flood affected villages including Banarpur, Rohanivan, Tiwari, Sikraul, and interacted with the affected people. The minister said that all possible help and benefits of government sponsored schemes will be given to the flood affected people.