Schools to reopen after Pongal January 18

CUDDALORE: The schools in the district would remain shut till pongal celebrations are over. However, this Pongal would be bitter for the poeple of Cuddalore as Cyclone Thane water downed their hardwork and robbed them of sugarcane harvest and pongal pots. While reversing its earlier decision to reopen schools on January 9, the district administration said it had decided to reopen government and aided schools on January 18 after Pongal celebrations. But Class X and XII classes would resume on January 9.Cuddalore district collector V Amuthavalli said: “Due to repair and other rehabilitation work to be carried out on school buildings and campuses, we deferred reopening of schools to January 18.” Education Department officers told Express that unavailability of adequate manpower to clear school campuses necessitated the delay in the reopening date.Meanwhile, the farmers and potters said it would be a bitter pongal this year. Potters said all the pots that they have been preparing for the past three months was destroyed and farmers said they feared that sugarcane without its leaf would not fetch reasonable price.“Beauty of a black sugarcane lies in its long and thin leaves. If leaves are good we could sell sugarcane for reasonable prices. Ironically, the cyclone ripped off all leaves from the sugarcane plants. As a result, these canes could now be sold only for minimum cost. That too it would be very difficult to sell them in market,” said Sankar of Appiyampettai.Kurinjipadi and Panruti unions that have hundreds of acres of black sugarcane fields transport loads of black sugarcanes to Koyambedu market every year but till this Sunday not even a single load has moved. “Generally, one bunch of sugarcanes (20 numbers) would be sold for `300 to `350. But this year we are apprehensive of selling one bunch for `200,” said Sabapathy, a farmer.Similarly, pots that were under preparation at Poondiyankuppam, Alapakkam, Andar Mullipallam, Poovalai and Parangipettai were completely damaged. “Every family lost pots and other products worth minimum of `20,000. Now, we have again started making pots but we can complete only a few pots,” said Rasangam.