Raipur. Due to the apathy of the Irrigation Department, irrigation of the upcoming Kharif crop is difficult due to lack of repair and cleaning of the canals and drains that supply irrigation water to about 4000 acres of fields in 9 villages under Tekari Irrigation Panchayat. There is anger among the farmers as no departmental officer has yet reached these villages to discuss face to face with the villagers and take stock of the condition of the canals and drains. Giving this information to Bhupendra Sharma, the former president of the organization who went out to meet the farmers of the villages of the Irrigation Panchayat area, the farmers also inspected these canal drains. Sharma has sent a memorandum to the departmental officers urging them to ensure repair and cleaning of canal drains before the upcoming Kharif crop irrigation, otherwise he has warned of possible farmer anger.
Tekari Irrigation Panchayat comes under sub-division number 4 of water management division number 1 of Mahanadi Reservoir Project. From its distributor branch number 24, 5 villages of Tekari, Kunda, Kathia, Ameri and Sakri including some farms of Sonbhatta village got about 2700 acres of fields, about 800 acres of Khauli, Sonbhatta and Budeni from Sonbhatta Minor and about 800 acres of Khauli, Sonbhatta and Budeni from Kathia outlet. About 400 acres of fields get irrigation water from Gangrel. After meeting the farmers and taking stock of the ground condition, Mr. Sharma sent a memorandum through WhatsApp to Executive Engineer Lalit Raote of Water Management Division No. 1 and Sub-Divisional Officer Pradeep Pal of Sub-Division No. 4 regarding the need for canal drains on priority basis. It has been requested to ensure repairs and cleanliness and in the absence of this, it has been considered difficult to get irrigation water and has cautioned against the departmental officers being responsible for possible farmer anger. A copy of the memorandum has also been sent to Chief Engineer Kuber Singh Guruwar and Superintending Engineer SK Sahare through WhatsApp with the request to make sure arrangements.
