5 months ago
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Due to protests from farmers’ organisations successful the Cauvery delta, the Tamil Nadu authorities has scaled down the app-based GPS verification for assessing the crops damaged by dense rainfall triggered by Cyclone Ditwah and has permitted accepted associated tract inspection for the bulk of the enumeration.
The Department of Agriculture has present revised the protocol, making GPS-enabled verification mandatory for lone 10% of the affected area, portion allowing the remaining appraisal to beryllium completed done associated inspection with Revenue officials, utilizing accepted tract verification and ocular estimation, arsenic followed successful earlier calamity surveys. The relaxation, announced connected Friday, is expected to velocity up harm estimation and compensation processing successful Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, and Nagapattinam districts, wherever thousands of hectares stay affected by prolonged submergence.
In the contiguous aftermath of the cyclone, the Agriculture Department had directed tract unit to transportation retired harm appraisal done a mobile app with GPS tagging, requiring Assistant Agricultural Officers (AAOs) to beryllium physically contiguous successful the affected fields to grounds harm digitally. Farmer bodies, however, contended that the method was proving impractical successful flooded tracts and could effect successful under-reporting, particularly successful interior villages with anemic web sum and successful fields wherever lasting h2o and slush made introduction hard and unsafe.
A Joint Director of the section from a delta territory said the 10% app-based sum would service arsenic a illustration check, portion the remainder of the enumeration would proceed without the bottlenecks triggered by the app-only requirement. The relaxation besides comes against the backdrop of manpower constraints successful the delta blocks. Farmers’ groups person repeatedly highlighted that AAOs are liable for ample jurisdictions, leaving them stretched bladed during highest tract operations, peculiarly erstwhile each damaged spot has to beryllium visited, verified and uploaded done a integer workflow. Network issues, delays successful geo-tagging and clip required to physically scope scattered plots had slowed enumeration successful respective villages, they said, adjacent arsenic farmers pressed for swift survey completion to guarantee timely relief.
To accelerate the process, the authorities has ordered deputation of AAOs from non-delta districts, with implicit 250 officers deployed crossed the 4 affected districts to reenforce the enumeration drive. Officials said the further hands, coupled with the revised method, would assistance implicit the appraisal faster and trim the backlog successful areas wherever lasting h2o had delayed tract access.
Progress, officials acknowledged, has been uneven crossed districts, reflecting differences successful the grade of submergence, accessibility of fields and disposable unit strength. In Thanjavur, officials person reported 4,460 hectares arsenic affected, with astir 40% physically assessed truthful far. In Tiruvarur, 13,399 hectares person been recorded arsenic affected, and astir 60% of the appraisal has been completed. In Nagapattinam, harm has been reported successful 22,822 hectares, with astir 40% covered truthful far, including astir 8,200 hectares verified done manual inspection. In Mayiladuthurai, officials person reported 15,569 hectares arsenic affected, with astir 50% of the enumeration completed.
S. Dhanapalan, wide caput of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, welcomed the relaxation and said integer tools were unavoidable successful the agelong run, but the strategy had to lucifer tract realities. “Digital method is the necessity of the age. Still, astatine the colony level, net and tract conditions marque it hard to place those genuinely affected successful existent time. Making 10% verification mandatory is welcome,” helium said.
Mr. Dhanapalan besides flagged the unit shortage arsenic a structural constraint that routinely affects tract operations. He said that successful respective pockets, 1 AAO is expected to screen arsenic galore arsenic 17 gross villages, making intensive tract verification hard during disasters. “In practice, an serviceman tin efficiently look aft lone 2 oregon 3 gross villages if the survey has to beryllium done decently connected the ground,” helium said.
