Farmer who lost 450 banana trees to lightning strike near Tiruchuli seeks compensation

Farmer seeks compensation after lightning fire destroys 450 banana plants; officials promise inspection and support.

Farmer P. Lakshmana Perumal, 45, of Vadapalai, who lost 450 banana plants to a fire caused by lightning on Sunday, sought compensation from the State government at the farmers’ grievance redress meeting conducted by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Aruppukottai, on Tuesday.

Mr. Perumal said that a sudden lightning that struck few plantain trees and set them on fire on Sunday evening. A whirlwind that quickly followed the lightning helped the fire spread faster to other plantains too. “I was just a few metres away from my farm, carrying fodder for the cattle. We all rushed to the farm to put out the fire, but since power supply was not there, we could not operate the pumps to draw water,” he added.

Before the fire tenders could arrive, the flames had destroyed 450 of the 500 plantains of ‘karpooravalli’ variety. “The crop was 10 months old with good yield. I could have harvested it in another 20 to 30 days,” the farmer rued.

Stating that he had taken a loan of ₹1.5 lakh from the cooperative society to raise the crops, Mr. Perumal said that he had lost everything to the blaze. The revenue officials promised that they would inspect his farm and take efforts to provide him compensation.

During the meeting, the Cauvery Vaigai Gundar Irrigation Farmers Federation district president Rampandian demanded action against the culprits who had cut down several trees on the premises of three primary health centres in Gopalapuram, Malaipatti and Pandalgudi.

The officials said that the issue was under probe. Mr. Ram Pandian wanted the district administration to go for a massive sapling planting exercise on these health centres to compensate for the lost trees.