Jhumpura: The sudden abandoning of resurrection work of the Jagadala Minor Irrigation Project in Malda panchayat of Jhumpura block in Keonjhar district have left farmers in a fix.
Most of the farmers in these two blocks depend on water from the Jagadala dam for their cultivations. The majority of farmers in Keonjhar district have already started agricultural activities.
They have started sowing paddy. However, farmers of Jhumpura and Sadar blocks alleged Sunday that they are suffering because of the absence of proper irrigation facilities.
The farmers said that small canals had been built for watering farmlands in Godua Topa, Rengalbeda, Dhanurjaypur, Kuradihi, Silisuan, Kalisui and Kandarapasi villages of Jhumpura and Sadar blocks.
When the irrigation project started a few years back, the farmers had immensely benefited. However, lack of maintenance of the canals has spelt doom for them.
The farmers informed the concerned authorities regarding their problems. Accordingly a sum of over rupees three crore was released from the district mineral fund (DMF) for desilting work of the Jagadala dam and the repair of the main canal.
Later, a tender was floated by the Irrigation department for the repair of the canals criss-crossing through the farmlands of the above mentioned blocks. An amount of over rupees three crore and 30 lakh were also released for the same purpose.
So far more than rupees seven crore has been sanctioned for the irrigation project, but it has not come to the benefit of the farmers. There are two plaques mentioning the date of commencement of work and the expected date of completion.
One of the plaques is at the site of the Jagadala dam and the other from where the main canal originates. Both plaques mention 05/01/2018 as the date of commencement of both the works and 04/12/2018 as the completion date.
However, till date the works for which funds were allotted have not been completed. “We have no idea why the work was left mid-way,” the farmers fumed.
“Some portions of the main canal have been repaired, as per the first tender. However, the desilting of the reservoir and the repairing of the smaller canals has not been done,” farmers like Sunaram Majhi, Japan Majhi and Adesh Munda said.
They added that the Minor Irrigation department’s role has been confined to conducting meetings only.
When contacted, assistant engineer, of the Minor Irrigation department in Keonjhar district, D Pradhan said the remainder of the work will start soon and will be finished as quickly as possible.
Executive engineer of the same department, Manas Ranjan Das informed that silt removal couldn’t start as water had flown into the reservoir. “We will soon start the process of silt removal,” Das said.
He however, avoided questions pertaining to a specific time-frame by which the problems of the farmers will be solved and the pending works will be completed.
PNN
