Even as the monsoon has been playing truant so far, a large section of farmers and women of Bathinda and Mansa districts have started holding prayers to please the rain god as paddy and cotton crop have started wilting. Not only farmers and women folk, but businessmen and a large section of urbanites have too joined the prayers.
Yajnas are being held and the practice of burning dolls has been started in rural and urban areas.
When I was young I was told by the elderly that by carrying out the above ritual the rain god gets pleased and this will lead to heavy rains and so we are observing the same today,” pointed out an elderly woman of Bathinda town, who along with other women today performed the ritual of burning dolls in one of the residential areas near Rose Garden.
A large section of farmers pointed out that as the canal water level had receded electric supply to their tubewells had become erratic.
They added that farmers of Bathinda and Mansa districts were doubly cursed as on one hand they had been facing frequent power cuts which had rendered their tubewells virtually non-functional while on the other the canal water supply was insufficient as the region located at the tail end of the canal.
State Agriculture Department officials pointed out that there were reports of farmers ploughing paddy crop after the same got dried up to acute shortage of water.
Moreover, due to absence of rains and erratic power supply, a large number of farmers had reportedly started resorting to canal water theft in this area. The farmers were finding it difficult to buy diesel for running tubewells.
Mr Amrit Pal Singh Brar, president, Punjab Young Farmers Federation, Punjab, said the state government should seek a special package from the Centre to compensate those farmers who had suffered loss on account of drought-like conditions.