JAGATSINGHPUR: Despite having ample water in the canals, farmers not getting water to their paddy fields at the tail end has left them high and dry. They alleged that the situation arose due to the apathy of irrigation officials.
In Balikuda, Naugaon, Biridi, Raghunathpur, Kujang, Erasama, and other blocks in the district, more than 85,000 hectares of land are dedicated to paddy cultivation. Farmers rely on both the Machgaon and Taladanda canals for irrigating their crops. However, encroachments and rampant weed and shrub growth in various sub-canals, has obstructed water flow till the tail end.
Though the farmers have raised this with the Irrigation Department officials every season, no one has paid heed. With this year’s insufficient rainfall exacerbating the situation, paddy crops are showing signs of distress, with cracks forming and recently transplanted crops turning yellow due to the lack of water. Farmers from Biridi, Pramoda Behera and Huriskesh Samal, alleged that two sub-canals in Bagalpur and Bamphilo, branching from the Machgaon canal, have not undergone regular repairs. Similarly, the sub-canal from Nailo to Nilamahal has not been maintained for the past 12 years obstructing the flow of water to the tail end of the fields.
Kujang farmers have reported that canal water has not yet reached the paddy fields of Baulang and Samagaol, forcing them to get water from neighbouring areas using containers. In the low-lying regions of 19 panchayats in the Raghunathpur block, irrigation water has not been reached, causing cracks in the fields leading to withering of newly transplanted paddy crops. Farmers from Balikuda Satyananda Parida, Ramchandra Routray and Sangrampur PS member Nath Kandi, have pointed out that irrigation water has not been released through the Kailo sub-minor canal, Sadeipur sub-canal, and 16 (A) branch canal of the main Machgaon canal.
“If our grievances are not addressed within a week, we will stage a protest in front of the irrigation department office,” the farmers threatened. Superintendent engineer (in-charge) of Irrigation in Jagatsinghpur, Rajesh Mohanty, assured, “There is abundant water in the Machgaon canal with a daily supply of 1,300 cusecs. There are no financial constraints for desilting and de-weeding the canals, so I have directed the field staff to monitor these activities to ensure water supply to all sub-canals,” he added.