Basudevpur: Scanty rainfall in Basudevpur block of Bhadrak district has hampered Kharif agricultural activities even as hundreds of lift irrigation points lie in disuse. Worried over the drought like situation, farmers are lamenting that the government has not come forward to set right the lift irrigation (LI) points at this time of crisis.
Reports said, from the first week of July till date, the area has not received the required rainfall, drying up farmlands.
The agriculture department has set a target for paddy cultivation in 34,400 hectares in Basudevpur. However, agricultural activities have been confined to only 3,500 hectares. Paddy saplings have been raised for 2,724 hectares while saplings have got damaged in 12 hectares.
Irrigation facility has been made available for 16,000 hectares, but most of the systems are not working as canals have choked. In the absence of renovation, water is not reaching the farmlands, farmers said.
There are about 208 LI points in Iram and Basudevpur clusters. Though 175 LI points are functional, 29 are lying defunct due to power problems.
Each point is capable of irrigating 20 hectares. However, in some cases, heavy electricity bills have been a problem for farmers. Electricity meters were fixed for 80 LI points while 100 points do not have them. Those farmers who have meters at their LI points complain of excessive billing by the power distribution company.
“Fearing excessive billing, many farmers are afraid of using LI points,” said some farmers. All the operative LI points have been handed over to pani panchayats. In certain cases, electricity has been disconnected, leaving some LI points unused at this time.
Iram has five registered pani panchayats, each run by a five- member committee. Under pani panchayats, 41 shallow tube wells have been set up. Under the scheme, the state government provides 90 per cent subsidy while 10 per cent of the cost is born by farmers.
Work on 16 more shallow tube wells is going on, said Satyacharan Chakraborty, lift irrigation cluster engineer.
Many farmers said the government should take steps to provide electricity to LI points that are in operative condition.
PNN
