INARUWA, OCTOBER 1

Dev Naryan Mehata of Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality has suffered severe losses in paddy cultivation on two bighas of land due to recent flooding caused by incessant rains.

He has already invested around Rs 40,000 per bigha (one bigha is equivalent to 72900.589 Sq.ft) into rice cultivation. According to social worker Raj Kishor Mehata, this expenditure is unusually high for local farmers.

Dev Narayan said he had convinced himself to invest in the management of fertilizers, seeds, and irrigation facilities and subsequently take care of the farming, hoping for good returns, but that hope has faded away with the disaster. Now he is worried about the high risk of a food shortage ahead.

Sadly, he is not enrolled in agricultural insurance, leaving him without compensation for his losses.

This season, he had planted the Ghutaraj variety of rice, which was nearly ready for harvest.

Other local farmers, including Rambriksha Mehata, Jamahar Mehata, Shyam Dev Mehata, and Jogindar Mehata, also cultivated Ghutaraj rice on approximately 40 bigha of land. Unfortunately, the continuous rain has caused the paddy ears to drop from the plants.

Meanwhile, families displaced by the floods here are beginning to return home. According to Samenand Bajracharya, Superintendent of Police for the Armed Police Force's 4th Battalion in Sunsari, around 40 families affected by the flood have returned home.

Rural Municipality Mayor Gafar Ansari stated that the local government has arranged food and shelter for the survivors. Some individuals in Harinagar Rural Municipality are still seeking refuge in open areas, as certain settlements remain inundated by flooding from the Sunsari and Mariya rivers. Survivors from Wards 2 and 4 have returned home, while those from Wards 5 and 7 continue to shelter in public areas.

Ansari said that the flooding has reportedly damaged rice cultivation across about 100 bigha of land, as well as 100 bighas of vegetable farming in the district. Additionally, around two kilometers of blacktopped roads have been compromised by the disaster.

The District Administration Office in Sunsari is currently collecting details of the damages, and local authorities have begun repairing the affected roadways throughout the district.