Construction of distributaries hits farmers

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 30

Following the construction and repair work of the Doomwali distributary, farmers from a number of villages in Bathinda have been affected. While the construction of the Arniwala distributary in Fazilka and the Lambi distributary in Muktsar district had also affected over 150 villages collectively, thus leaving a number of farmers in the lurch as they had left with no water to begin cotton sowing.

The Agriculture Department had advised farmers to sow cotton during April 15 to May 15, but farmers in around 200 villages of the three districts are at the receiving end due to lack of water.

Cotton crop sowing in the Malwa belt, which is also known as the cotton belt of Punjab, begins after the harvesting of the wheat crop. Farmers of these villages claimed that the construction should have been started before the harvesting time instead of wheat harvesting or cotton sowing period. The unavailability of water also had left many villages with scarcity of drinking water.

Villages of the Lambi constituency are also affected due to the construction work at the Lambi distributary.

Agriculture officials have been continuously receiving phone calls of farmers complaining about water not available to sow the cotton crop. In Bathinda, there are about 12 villages that are badly affected due to lack of water in the Doomwali distributary that receives water from Teona and Bathinda branch water channels.

Farmers Gurjant Singh of Pathrala village of Bathinda district said: “This is the right time to water our fields and start with the sowing of cotton crop. We don’t know how can the administration start the construction work just ahead of cotton sowing. The work would have started before the harvesting period. The government has started the work just to show that it is working. Pathrala, Ghudda, Dhunnike, Bandi, Doomwali and other villages are among the worst affected. Many of the villages are also suffering due to lack of potable water.”

Chief Agriculture Officer, Bathinda, Nacchattar Singh Aulakh, said: “This is the appropriate time for sowing of cotton but water is unavailable in the Doomwali distributary due to its construction since beginning. In Bathinda, the construction work had affected badly about 12 villages where cotton could have been sown. Farmers calls us but we are helpless. We had requested irrigation officials and they would soon complete the construction work.”

Executive Engineer, Irrigation, Bathinda, Upkaran Singh, said: “The construction would be completed in the first week of May as the work was forcibly stopped for about two weeks by farmers. It takes about 42 days to complete the construction of the distributary and we had started the work since March 22 but the gap of 12 days had affected and we would complete it soon. In Bathinda, there are around 12 villages only which have been affected.”

RK Gupta, Executive engineer, Fazilka, said: “The Arniwala distributary covers around 125 villages but we would complete this work till May 10 which was our deadline. We begun the construction work about 20 days ago but the number of farmers came and claimed that the distributary is crossing over their agriculture land following which we had to again construct new banks that had further made difficult for us to complete the deadline of May 10. The project costs up to Rs 20 crore and covers about three constituencies, including Fazilka, Jalalabad, and Muktsar. Around 25 villages affected by the Lambi distributary would likely to get water from tomorrow. The work of minors in these distributaries would begin in October.