Jabalpur: Untimely rains caused great concern among farmers who have cut paddy and spread it on platforms on agriculture fields and roads for drying before shifting to markets and paddy purchase centres in the integrated old district. Moderate to heavy rain on Sunday soaked the grain at several places. From 107 societies of Jabalpur district to private warehouses and agricultural produce markets, paddy lying in the open got wet due to rain.
The farmers who have been waiting outside societies and warehouses for several days to get their paddy weighed, suffered the most. Paddy kept in the open at the agricultural produce market at Damoh Naka got spoiled due to rain. District Marketing Officer Rohit Baghel says that in the survey conducted till late evening in the city, 20,000 bags of paddy are estimated to be wet. On the other hand, from the agricultural produce market in Jabalpur district to the society and warehouse in the open, about 1 Lakh quintals of paddy lying in the open is likely to get wet.
Several thousand quintals of paddy kept in the open in Damohnaka’s Agricultural Produce Market got spoiled due to rain. The sack of paddy was also kept in the open, due to which it too became wet. The paddy got wet due to the rainwater getting filled under the sacks. During this, the negligence of the responsibilities of the market also came to the fore. In the first rain, the soaked paddy was also kept in the open, which got worse in the second rain.
KK Aggarwal, president of Bharat Krishak Samaj, alleged that due to disorder in the society, several quintals of paddy kept here got wet. No arrangements were made here to protect the paddy kept in the open in the society from rain. Here the district administration denied his allegation. The administration says that the same paddy was kept in the open, which was non-standard. Adequate gunny bags have been provided in every society. In view of the possibility of rain, the paddy kept in the society was secured by covering it with tarpaulin.