Mohan Mahto in his field at Hedlaag village of Hazaribagh on Sunday. Picture by Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Katkamsandi (Hazaribagh), Aug. 8: The farmers of Paar Sugawa — a small hamlet under Hedlaag panchayat of Katkamsandi block— met at the village chowk this morning to discuss ways to save their crops in the face of the dry spell. But no one — right from 65-year-old Mohan Mahto to 18-year-old Rajendra Kumar — could come up with a solution.

With Hazaribagh being kept out of the drought list recently released by Raj Bhavan, the farmers, whose crops are perishing in the fields in the absence of rainfall or proper irrigation facilities, are now waiting for a miracle to turn things around.

Paar Sugawa is the leading producer of tomatoes, cabbages, green chillies and coriander leaves. The produce is not only sold in the market of Jharkhand, but also in Bihar, Bengal and other parts of the country.

“All villages in this area had begun cultivation in June. We worked hard from June to August, provided urea to pesticides and enough water to the fields. But at the final stage, all wells dried up. Our village does not have adequate number of hand pumps or ponds either. Now, our crops are dying one after the other in front of our eyes and we can’t do anything,” Mahto said.

Recalling the drought of 1966, the villager added: “But things look worse this year with all wells drying up.”

Not only Hedlaag, Jalma, Kasturikhaap, Pakrar, Kanchanpur, Bahimar, Dohtwa, Dato and many other places are also grappling with a similar crisis.

Local politician Lalman Kushwaha claimed the district administration was doing little to help the villages of Katkamsandi.

“During a normal rainfall, even small farmers earned anything between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh by selling their produce. They even got the advance by this time. If the situation remains same without the administration extending any aid to us, we will die without food and water,” Kushwaha said.

Another farmer, Sobran Mahto, asked how could the state leave out Hazaribagh from the drought list. “Why can’t the officials visit different areas of Hazaribagh to see for themselves how we are coping? If such stepmotherly treatment is meted out to us, we will starve to death,” he added.

However, the governor’s decision to re-assess the quantum of rainfall received by the remaining 12 districts that have not been declared drought-hit before another review on August 16 holds out some hope for the Hazaribagh villagers.

District secretary of CPM Ganesh Kumar Verma said his party, which had been clamouring for Hazaribagh’s inclusion in the drought list, had staged a dharna on Friday to mount pressure on the administration. “We hope that Governor M.O.H Farook will look into the issue and relief will come the villagers’ way soon,” he added.