Nagapattinam: Salt producers a worried lot

NAGAPATTINAM: Salt producers in Vedaranyam, who bore the brunt of cyclone Gaja, are worried yet again as Cyclone Nivar makes steady progress towards the Tamil Nadu coast.Small scale salt producers said they are yet to recover from the impact of Gaja which tore through the region in November 2018. 

They are now hoping they do not land in a similar situation. “We are yet to receive insurance settlement for the damage caused by Gaja cyclone. We are worried about this one now. We exported 11,000T so far and around 90,000T of salt is in stock. The trucks haven’t been coming in sufficient numbers lately due to Covid fear.” said V Senthil, secretary of Vedaranyam Small Scale Salt Manufacturers Federation.

There are 3,000 acres under small scale production in Vedaranyam. A majority of salterns was engulfed with marine clay when seawater intruded through the channels in the aftermath of Gaja. It took months of work for salt producers to clear the salterns. With Nivar approaching, salt producers have instructed workers to cover the salt heaps with ‘Ambaaram’, a canopy made of dry palm leaves, and topped with a tarpaulin sheet. However, many of the canopies could not withstand the brute force of Gaja in 2018.

“We want the roads to be cleared at the earliest if they get blocked by fallen trees. If roads are blocked, trucks cannot enter Vedaranyam. We want the electricity to be restored soon after the landfall,” said P Dhanyakumar, a small, scale salt producer from Agasthiyampalli.