Overnight rain wreaked havoc in the Fazilka grain market, washing away a large quantity of paddy and submerging several bags in accumulated rainwater, allegedly due to inadequate drainage arrangements.Rainwater accumulated in low-lying areas of the market, causing heaps of paddy to float away and several filled bags to remain submerged. With the grain market already operating at full capacity, a substantial quantity of paddy had been stocked in low-lying areas, leaving it vulnerable to waterlogging.“My paddy has been washed away. Although it was covered with tarpaulins, the incessant rain swept away the produce,” said farmer Ravi Chaudhary, who had sown paddy on 15 acres.Describing the incident as a loss worth crores of rupees, Sanjeev Goldy Sachdeva, president of the Arhtiya Association, alleged that the authorities had failed to make timely arrangements to drain out the rainwater.“We had brought the issue to the notice of the concerned authorities several times and urged them to make advance arrangements, but to no avail,” he said.Sachdeva added that commission agents would find it difficult to assess the exact quantity of paddy washed away and determine the losses suffered by individual farmers.Commission agent Sumant Setia demanded that accountability be fixed for the lapses and that affected farmers be compensated after a proper assessment of the losses once the accumulated rainwater had been drained out.Meanwhile, Mandeep Kamra, secretary of the Fazilka Market Committee, described the incident as a natural calamity. He said the administration had started draining the accumulated water using pumping motors and claimed that the process would be completed within a few hours.Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu said a recommendation had been made for action against the Mandi Board authorities.