Kendrapada: Panic gripped Panikhia village in Mahakalapada block of Kendrapada district on Thursday after tidal waves breached a saline embankment, inundating agricultural land and damaging crops.
Villagers said a 12-foot stretch of the weakened embankment caved in during high tide, allowing seawater to enter fields in Panikhia and nearby areas and affecting around 1,500 acres. “Many farmers had already sown paddy seeds after ploughing their land. Their hopes were dashed after saline water entered the fields,” said Suna Marandi of Panikhia.
“Large tracts of farmland in Panikhia and Nanjura were salinised due to the tidal ingress,” said Guruva Hansada, a resident. Umesh Chandra Singh, a farmers’ leader and president of the district unit of Krishak Sabha, alleged that embankments and sluice gates were not being repaired and accused some prawn farm owners of illegally damaging embankments to let saline water into shrimp farms. He alleged official inaction.
Kendrapada collector Raghuram R Iyer said the district administration directed the saline embankment division to repair the damaged stretch. He said the water resources department and other agencies were asked to repair weak river and saline embankments across the district ahead of the monsoon.
