Chandigarh, Aug 1 (PTI) Around 20,000 hectares of area under paddy and cotton crops in Punjab’s Muktsar and Fazilka districts have been affected due to rains, a senior official of the agriculture department said on Monday.
The state government has already ordered ‘girdwari’ to assess the loss caused to the crops by rains in the past several days.
“Rains have affected 20,000 hectares of cotton and paddy crop areas in Muktsar and Fazilka districts,” said the official.
In many areas in these two districts, crops got submerged in water, said the official, adding if rain continues, there could be more damage to cotton and paddy crops.
The official said after rains, the humid conditions become conducive for whitefly breeding which is not good for cotton crop.
Whitefly pest has already affected cotton in Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday visited the village Lalbai at Lambi in Muktsar district.
He provided motor pumps and pipes to villagers for draining out water from rain-affected fields.
On Sunday, Badal had demanded immediate ‘girdwari’ be done to assess the damage caused to cotton and paddy crops in Muktsar, Fazilka, Ferozepur and Mansa districts.
The SAD chief had said that it was shocking that chief minister Bhagwant Mann had not even given directions to officials to make arrangements to drain flood water from fields and houses
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