Patapur: A minor irrigation project in tribal-dominated T Gobindpur panchayat on the fringes of Ganjam and Gajapati districts is plagued by a host of problems and has deprived farmers of irrigation facility.
The Gopalganda minor irrigation project at Daseipur- Bureipahad village had been helping farmers in the area to irrigate their farmland but has now been rendered useless as its walls have collapsed at many places.
Moreover, shrubs and silt covering it at many places have prevented free flow of water in the canal.
Following demand by farmers, the state government sanctioned `25 lakh but that has fallen short for renovation of canals, triggering resentment among the tribal farmers.
This has happened as a detailed project report (DPR) of `1.85 crore sent to the irrigation authorities a year ago is yet to receive the state government’s sanction.
What has come as a rude shock to the farmers is the state government instead of clearing the DPR has sanctioned only `25 lakh for renovation of 800 mtr stretch of the canal, said farmers Medi Badaraita, Phaguna Badaraita, Bonda Sabar and Sainta Sabar.
They claimed renovating a patch of the canal will serve no purpose as the whole canal needs to be renovated and will only result in waste of precious water.
According to reports, then Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project October 5, 1986 with a plan outlay of `6.30 crore.
The reservoir’s water retaining capacity is 31.858 sq/km. After construction of the
reservoir, a canal was constructed to its north for providing irrigation facilities to over 25 villages including Podamari, Rajanapalli, Rajpur, Narendrapur, Padmapur, Buguda, Pattiguda, Sundarpur and Dharmapur lying on the lower catchment area of the dam.
However, due to lack of timely maintenance the walls of the canal have collapsed at many places with shrubs and slit found covering it.
Junior engineer Nrusingha Charan Das said renovation of the canal is going on with sanctioned funds which after completion will help the farmers in irrigating their farmlands. The entire canal will be renovated after the state government approves the DPR, he added. PNn
