the goan I network
QUEPEM
Over 100 tonnes of sugarcane and more than 2000 cashew trees were destroyed in a major fire at Tilamol, Quepem on Sunday morning.
The fire is believed to have been lit by some picnickers near the Selaulim irrigation canal which is adjacent to the Dattarai Salgaonkar farm at Tilamol that was gutted in the blaze.
Before the fire tender from Curchorem station reached the farm, most of the crop, including fruit bearing cashew trees, was destroyed, but the biggest achievement of the firefighting team was that it could save the quarters housing the labourers which are between the sugarcane and cashew plantation.
Lack of clear access to the cashew plantation which covers the sloping mountain terrain caused hindrance to the firefighting team. Although most of the fire was doused by noon there were pockets of fire on the mountain and next to Selaulim irrigation canal till late in the evening.
Although the actual cause of the fire is not known one Chandrakant who is working at the farm for the last 15 years suspects that some people who had come for a picnic on the banks of Selaulim irrigation canal, adjacent to the sugarcane farm, might be responsible for the fire.
He said there is a small bridge on the canal just outside the sugarcane farm where youth come for picnics during weekends and lack of any gates give them free access to the site. He said some of these people might have tried to light a fire to cook something and it might have accidentally spread in the farm.
Vilas the supervisor of the farm said harvesting of sugarcane was delayed as the factory was unable to provide labour for harvesting. He estimated a loss of over Rs 3 lakh from sugarcane alone and over Rs 1 lakh from the cashew plantation. Chandrakant said that the income from cashew plantation last year was around Rs 80,000 and that they were expecting a bumper crop this year.
