📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Biswarup Ganguly
Agriculture
Eight-Hour Power Cut Threatens Paddy Crop in Mohali, Farmers Resort to Diesel Irrigation
✍️ Amar Ujala · Mohali
🗓 01 Sep 2026, 02:23 AM
👁 2
An eight‑hour electricity outage in Mohali has left paddy fields without water, forcing farmers to use diesel‑powered pumps to irrigate.
An unexpected eight‑hour power failure struck Mohali, a city in Punjab, cutting electricity supply to agricultural zones during a critical stage of the rice‑growing season. The outage, reported by local media, left thousands of hectares of paddy fields without the electric power needed for water pumping.
Paddy, a water‑intensive crop, requires timely irrigation to avoid yield loss. With the grid down, farmers faced the immediate risk of water stress that could jeopardise the upcoming harvest, especially as the monsoon rains have not yet arrived in sufficient quantity.
To keep their fields afloat, many cultivators turned to diesel‑driven pumps, burning fuel to draw water from canals and tube wells. This emergency measure raises concerns over rising operational costs and environmental impact, as diesel is both expensive and polluting.
Local agricultural officials have warned that prolonged reliance on diesel may strain farmers’ finances and urge power utilities to restore supply swiftly to prevent further damage to the season’s paddy output.
Paddy, a water‑intensive crop, requires timely irrigation to avoid yield loss. With the grid down, farmers faced the immediate risk of water stress that could jeopardise the upcoming harvest, especially as the monsoon rains have not yet arrived in sufficient quantity.
To keep their fields afloat, many cultivators turned to diesel‑driven pumps, burning fuel to draw water from canals and tube wells. This emergency measure raises concerns over rising operational costs and environmental impact, as diesel is both expensive and polluting.
Local agricultural officials have warned that prolonged reliance on diesel may strain farmers’ finances and urge power utilities to restore supply swiftly to prevent further damage to the season’s paddy output.