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ERRATIC supply of power, acute crisis of diesel and fall in water level has severely affected cultivation of boro in Narsingdi, Comilla and Natore much to the concern of the growers.
   At many places of these districts the growers are yet to plant boro seedlings on their lands as they could not operate their pumps to supply irrigation water due to load shedding and crisis of diesel.
   According to a report from our Narsingdi correspondent, power outage and diesel crisis have hit boro cultivation at all the six upazilas in the district.
   The daily requirement of diesel for operating pumps in the district is about 6,000 litres, but it is getting a supply of 1,800 to 2,000 litres, according to dealers.
   The diesel crisis has affected boro cultivation at eight unions under Raipura upazila and four union under sadar upazila of this district. The farmers of these twelve unions have no access to electricity and as such they are fully dependent on diesel for operating their pumps to supply irrigation water to their parched boro lands.
   Besides, 30 per cent of the deep tube wells and 40 per cent of shallow tube sells in the district have become inoperative following the drastic fall in the ground water level. With the advent of winter, the ground water level has fallen by 15 to 20 feet at many places across the district making it impossible for deep as well as shallow tube wells to draw water from such depth.
   As many as 1,200 deep tube wells have been installed in the district for irrigation of land. Of them, 434 have gone out of water due to frequent fluctuation of power.
   Our Comilla correspondent reports that the boro growers at Brahmanpara upazila in Comilla have been hit hard by irregular supply of power. Load-shedding at this upazila continues for 20 to 22 hours a day. Eighty-seven deep tube well and 764 shallow tube wells remain inoperative for most of the time at this upazila due to power outage.
   A total of 4,103 hectares of land have been brought under boro cultivation at this upazila with a production target fixed at 11,217 tonnes of rice. Production is likely to miss the target if the load shedding continues unabated.
   Our Natore correspondent adds: Over 400 irrigation pumps have been pressed into operation to supply water at the Chalanbil, the largest irrigation project in Natore.
   But these pumps remain idle for most of the time in 24 hours due to load shedding.
   The boro growers of this project are grovelling in their mire of disappointment due to erratic supply of power.
   The power supply position in the entire district is frustrating. Load-shedding is a regular phenomenon. The district is now getting the supply of 6 to 7MW of power against the demand of 28MW, according to the Rural Electricity Board sources in Natore.
   Some 62,700 hectares of land have been put under boro cultivation at six upazilas in Natore this season. The boro growers have expressed the apprehension that the district would have a shortfall of boro production due to irregular supply of power.