Tarn Taran Diary: Reactivating canal water supply system not without its share of problems

The move of the state government to give a new look to the supply of canal water for irrigation purposes has become a severe headache for officials and farmers. There were times when the canal water had its own importance and was given top priority in terms of irrigation. Canal water was the only source of irrigation in the border belt of Tarn Taran district where ground-water is salty (Khara – acid mixed) and it was impossible for the farmers to irrigate their crop with water from the tube-well water or well (Khooh). To use mixed water of the tube-well and the canal was the tradition in the border belt, particularly from Patti onward in Khalra, Bhikhiwind, Khemkaran, Valtoha, Sabhra, Amarkot, Algon etc. But to avail this facility was not so easy because of the time factor as some of the farmers had to get water between 12 am to 2 am (after midnight). With the replacing of the system with the tube-well connection and moreover when it assumed the form of a freebie, most farmers left using canal water and slowly the canal-water system began to collapse. There were reports that the farmers started to acquire the common land meant for canal water distributaries system (sue-khals etc). The state government had started a move to reactivate the canal water system to benefit the tail-end villages. Under the move, the irrigation department was repairing the canals (sue- khala or distributaries) on a war footing. Amarajit Singh, Ranjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Rajbir Singh, Partap Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Joga Singh, Harbans Singh and many other farmers, residents of Rakh Sheron village, were recently astonished to know that there was no existence of the khal — supplying canal water from Mogha No. 26882 (point from where the canal water reaches the fields of the farmers of the said area). The situation became so complicated that the location of the Khal went missing in the revenue records and the irrigation department’s record. SDO Irrigation Sukhdeep Singh said that though there was no record, he was making arrangements for the canal water to reach before June 16, the starting date of sowing paddy in Tarn Taran district. Five hundred acres of land is to be affected in case the exact location of the Khal is not to be found. The repair work of the Tarn Taran distributory that brings canal water from the Kasur Branch Lower (KBL) was done in a hurry leaving room for serious lapses. The repair work is being done without removing the unwanted trees or the elephant grass that has grown in the distributory. Satnam Singh Manochahal, Harjinder Singh Shakri, Tejindepal Singh Rasulpur and others leaders of a farmer union said that in case the unwanted trees are not removed from the interior part of the distributory, cracks would soon surface and the money used in the repair work would go in vain causing loss to the state exchequer. XEN Irrigation Amar Iqbal Singh said the department had given late approval to the project and the aim is to complete the work before water is discharged in the KBL canal. He said that the cleaning of the distributories is being done after a gap of 25 years and the sole aim of the department is to reach water to the fields of the farmers. SDO Sarabjit Singh said the department had spoken to the contractors to remove the unwanted trees etc at any cost and is must be removed even when water is discharged in the distributories.

Bhavneet Kaur wants to become doctor, serve society

15-year-old Bhavneet Kaur is serious about her future and career after topping in grade 10 of the CBSE Board exam this year. Harpreet Singh, a resident of Khawaspur (Goindwal Sahib), father of Bhavneet Kaur, is a marginal farmer who sometimes works as a labourer to make both ends meet for his seven-member family. She helps her mother with domestic work too and reads books too. She said that she wanted to become a doctor and so something for society rather than go abroad. A student of Guru Amar Das Adarsh Institute, Goindwal Sahib, she had taken admission in the medical stream to clear NEET. She scored 100 marks in Punjabi and Information Technology. Her teachers, the principal and members of the management of the institute where she studies said that she is a hardworking and sincere student possessing a lot of potential. Bhavneet Kaur attributed her success to her parents’ motivation that helped her maintain optimism during the examination.

(Contributed by Gurbaxpuri)