UP: Dry canal leads to irrigation crisis, farmers in distress

Kushinagar— Farmers depending on the the21km-long Madhuria-Jokwa Rajwaha, which covers an area of 1,000 bighas in the district are not receiving any water from the canal for irrigation. The paddy seedlings are ready for transplanting and farmers are very worried about how they will manage to farm without irrigation. In this, the farmers have warned the Yogi government that if the canals are not supplied with water on time, we will all rise in protest.

As of now, there is no water for farmers for irrigation in Madhuria Rajwaha, the main canal of JokwaBuzurg, Fazilnagar block. Due to this, there is widespread anger among the farmers in dozens of villages including Gurwalia, Kripa Patti, Dhundhwalia, Jokwa Buzurg, Madhuria, Dahari Patti, Sariya Mahanth Patti, Kotwa, Rahasu, Laxmipur, Nadwa, and Sapha.

What are farmers saying?

Arvind Singh (40), former pradhan of Rahasujanubi Patti gram panchayat inFazilnagar block, which is facing a water crisis, has this to say, "Farmers are facing irrigation problems due to non-cleaning of canals. The state government needs to pay attention to this seriously."

Brijbihari, a local resident said, "Every year, farmers' paddy transplanting work is affected by the non-availability of water in the canals at the time for paddy transplantation. This problem should be resolved at the earliest."

At the same time, the state minister of the Kisan Sabha, Shiyasharan Pandey, has said that the problems facing the farmers should be resolved at the earliest, otherwise we will launch a big agitation.

Irrigation facilities in the area

In the Jokwa-MadhuriaRajwaha area of Kushinagar, farmers have traditionally irrigated their fields with water from the canals. When this water does not reach the farmers due to a lack of silt-cleaning from the canals, the farmers have to buy water from pumping set operators at high prices to do the work of irrigating their fields.

Brijmohan Baranwal, Assistant Engineer, Irrigation Department, Fazilnagar said that water is there within a few kilometers of the Madhuria-Jokwa Rajawaha canal, and the water will flow down the canal in the next two to three days.

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[Story Translated By Lotika Singha]