BARIPADA: Farmers of Hatibari and Patulidihi under Karanjia sub-division in Mayurbhanj district have expressed discontentment over the release of water from Deo medium irrigation project only through the main canal and not in the left and right canals depriving them of starting farming activities.
Since water was released only through the main canal for irrigation purposes, more than 20 hectare land which are located in both right and left canals of the project have remained dry. The farmers alleged apathy of authorities even after knowing that farmers are dependent on irrigation through release of water.
“If the major irrigation project does not serve their purpose when they need it most, the government should not spend funds for construction of such projects. We have lost house and farm land for the project as it meant water supply for our lands. But now we are deprived of water for kharif,” the farmers rued. Unless water is released through right and left canals, more than 20 hectare land will not be used for farming affecting our livelihood, said Chitanya Purty, Bhakta Purty, Gunaram Soi, Ram Rai Soi, Docotor Mohanta, Krushna Naik, all farmers.
Recently, the farmers had made the engineer of the project BK Mallick, walk for more than 3 km. They claimed their land is located not less than 500 meters from the project but unfortunately, there is no water for them. Some others also said that water supply was done from July 16 till July 23, but stopped after that putting a complete stop to all agricultural activities.
Official sources said higher level of land than the canal level affects poor release of water from the project. The authorities are looking into the matter seriously.