VIZIANAGARAM: With their plea to restore the defunct irrigation canal went unheeded, tribal farmers of Sarika, Varaka and Chintalavalasa villages have restored it by themselves. Silt accumulated in the canal due to recent floods affecting the flow of water.
As a result, about 100 acres of farm land in the three villages was deprived of irrigation water.
The minor irrigation canal draws water from River Swarnamukhi and the farmers of the three villages are solely dependent on it for cultivation.
“We took the issue to the notice of the officials concerned, but they turned a deaf ear to our woes,’’ a farmer from Varaka village said. The official apathy had prompted the farmers to restore the canal on their own by hiring a JCB. They mobilised about Rs 50,000 for the canal restoration.
When contacted, Saluru MPDO Parvathi said that the issue did not come to her notice.
“I will pursue the matter and help the tribal farmers. I will direct the panchayat secretary of the village to speak to the farmers in this regard,’’ she told The New Indian Express.
Earlier, people of Kodama, a hilltop hamlet, laid a 15 km road from the hilltop to the foothill by pooling funds themselves. Having learnt about their collective effort, the government had repaid the amount spent by tribals on laying the road.