Ara: It rained in Bhojpur district on Friday - after five days - bringing cheer to farmers. They were at their wit's end as the standing paddy seedlings had started withering in the absence of showers.

Seedlings were at the germination stage and a good amount of water was required for their transplantation. Farmers are depending on a good spell of rain for paddy crops as they expect little from defunct tubewells and borings.

The spectre of drought was looming large over Bhojpur about for the past five days but now withering seedlings have been rejuvenated and the transplantation work has started in full swing.

District agriculture officer, Bhojpur, Sanjay Nath Tiwari said paddy transplantation has to be done on 1,15,000 hectares and good rainfall is needed. If the dry spell had persisted for a week or more, it would have caused extensive damage to the seedlings. He said Bhojpur is expected to receive 1,000mm of rainfall but the district has received 350mm rain so far.

He said canals irrigate at least two-third of the areas but they are in a dilapidated condition and water is unable to reach the end.

He added that 70 per cent transplantation work has been completed so far which is only 10 per cent less than last year. He said as the rain was delayed, the late variety of paddy (MTV-7029) is preferred because that can be re-transplanted, if required.

Tiwari said Rs 400 crore has been sanctioned for distribution among farmers as diesel subsidy but the order is still awaited. Bhojpur district needs at least 2,940 cusec of water from June to September but only about 2,200 cusec of water has been released from the Indrapuri Barrage so far. He said Bhojpur has remained a rain-deficit district for the past four years, adding that 65 per cent of nurseries have also suffered due to scanty rainfall. A cusec amounts to roughly 28.32 litres of water flow per second crossing a particular point.

At present, only 130 out of 500 tube wells are in working condition. Several tube wells have been non-functional owing to burnt-out transformers. Lack of coordination among the officials concerned of the district administration, agriculture department and the electricity department is stated to be the reason behind the non-repair of tube wells.

Whatever little seedlings the farmers have been able to save so far seem to be withering for want of adequate supply of power in almost all the 14 blocks. It has exposed lack of determination of the irrigation department and the district administration to chalk out a plan to meet the challenge.

Further, the southern part of Bhojpur district has a good network of canals constructed by the British but all of them are in a dilapidated condition for want of proper maintenance despite allocation of crores of rupees every year for the purpose.

Tiwari said only 50 farmers have applied for the diesel subsidy and added that the amount would be transferred to their bank account once they linked their account numbers with Aadhaar cards. The diesel subsidy would be given at the rate of Rs 40 per litre.