TIRUCHI: While instances of agricultural fields getting submerged owing to an overflowing Cauvery are considered a rare phenomenon elsewhere in the district, in swathes of fields surrounding Vengur and neighbouring villages, crops get soaked in water and perish every year.

Blame it on absence of outlets for excess water reaching there through the irrigation canal fed by the tail end of Uyyakondan channel. Even before the farmers could recover from the deluge caused by the floods, four days of continuous rain caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal has submerged thousands of acres of low-lying fields with paddy, sugarcane and plantain crops in and around Vengur, Arasangudi, Natarajapuram, Vilankulam, Kiliyur and Pathalapettai. No sooner did they start replacing the crops rotten by the floodwater with new saplings, the rains came washing the crops away, forcing the farmers to start the whole hog again. In a state of helplessness, a section of the farmers has reconciled to the fate and let the crops to rot.

In Vengur region, water on the fields remains stagnant, but for a handful of hectares in Natarajapuram and Koothapar.

The reverse flow from Anandacauvery and Vennaru Vadilkal Vaikal, the two blocked irrigation canals meant to drain excess water into the Cauvery river, has left no scope for the water to recede.

Longstanding demand

A longstanding appeal of farmers, spanning two decades, to the district administration to desilt the two main irrigation canals remains unheeded. Farmers, who were once prosperous with 50 to 60 acres of fields, are now left with just one-fifth of their holdings.

To their horror, their debts are rising menacingly, threatening to wipe away whatever remaining land they own.

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