Unscientific bridge creates havoc for farmers in Siribagilu

The inundated paddy field is not one or two acres but it is a sprawling 150 acres that have been engulfed by water, rotting the paddy crops. As many as 40 farmers are left in dire straits with their hard work and investment being washed away by water.

About 3 to 4 feet water has stagnated in the fields, damaging about 75 per cent of the crops. Even the hay has rotten and there is absolutely nothing left for the farmers to take back home. Areca, coconut grooves and vegetable gardens too have been inundated.

While rains have created havoc in most of the regions across the State, the reason for the tears of the farmers here is something else. It is a unscientifically built bridge that has caused all the problems and has left farmers in troubled waters.

Kasargod Block Panchayat has constructed a temporary bridge across Mayipady lake at Kotekunja near Bedradka and it is due to this bridge that water is getting stagnated at the upper region of the lake.

Farmers here say that it is this stagnated water which is gushing into their fields. Chikkappu Rai Sithamgoli says that the bridge has been built and is being managed unscientifically. This bridge has turned out to be a curve for farmers cultivating 150 acres of land in the region. Another farmer Rama Shetty says that he has lost crops worth Rs 30 lakh and does not know how to handle the situation, which has gone out of control.

The farmers say that though there is hue and cry everywhere about the existing situation, ward members, block panchayat members and other local bodies have not yet realised the gravity of the situation.