Canal Man’s village sees ray of hope

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Bhubaneswar: Three years ago, 72-year-old Daitari Nayak, a farmer from the Talabaitarani village in Keonjhar district hogged headlines for carving out a three kilometer canal from the Gonasika mountain. The septuagenarian then was fumed with the government for their apathy towards his village.
However, a few years down the line, Nayak, called as the ‘Canal Man of Odisha’, can see development slowly creeping into his deprived village. The village had been facing scarcity of water for irrigation thus leading to farmer suffering. Moved by the woes, Nayak had carved out his canal after working there for years.
“Our village used to struggle with water which used to cascade during summers. Many used to take water from percolated pits on the earth. My family and I worked for few years to bring water from the water streams of the mountain close to our village,” said Nayak.
Nayak was awarded the Padma Shri by the President in 2019 for his arduous work for his village. After his fame for his work and later for the prestigious civilian award many things around him started changing and slowly his village also started to see the change.
The Canal Man still lives in a big joint family in a house with asbestos roof. But a pucca house and a pucca road to his village have started construction after Nayak got the attention of the bureaucrats and politicians who earlier had ignored his village.
“Earlier we were struggling financially. Now I am getting Rs 10,000 per month as allowance from the government. A pucca house is now under construction for me and my family. The construction of a pucca road to my village has also started. Slowly but steadily development started reaching us,” Nayak said.
The farmer also said that the government has also started to make concrete walls around the canal carved out by him through the mountain to ensure regular and smooth flow of water to the water scarce village. Nayak said earlier the local administration had claimed that there was no possibility of bringing water to the area which triggered him to go for his mission.
Nayak however lamented that Anganwadi centres, schools and healthcare facilities are still a utopian dream for the village as such facilities are nowhere close to their area which add to the woes of the village.