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Heavy rains lash Kerala, state seeks central aid
Saturday, 22 March, 2008
AJ: Heavy summer rains continued to lash Kerala claiming eight lives and inflicting huge agricultural loss in the last few days as the state appealed to the Centre for providing emergency assistance to tide over the situation. In a fax message to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan wanted a central team to be sent immediately to the state to assess the loss which as per initial estimates stood at Rs 50 crore. Ready-to-harvest paddy in a stretch of 20,000 acres had been damaged in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Kottayam districts.
The loss is likely to mount as the farmers were finding it difficult to start harvesting as rains continued to batter these areas. The unseasonal rains also affected the prospects of cash crops like pepper and coffee, especially in areas of Wayanad and Idukki districts. Resistance by pro-CPI (M) farm workers union to the use of harvesting machines had allegedly contributed to the farmers' plight in Kuttanad, against which the Congress-led UDF had launched a campaign.
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