Canal breach destroys cotton crop, several acres submerged
Abohar, July 13
Due to the about 100-foot wide breach in Malukpura distributary near the tail-end Usmankhera village on Friday night, cotton and other crops spread over hundreds of acres got submerged. It caused huge losses to farmers who have accused the officials of the Canal Department of being negligent and using inferior material in the construction of the canal, which was refuted by official sources.
A couple of farmers, Gunwant Singh, Gursewak Singh, Daljit Singh and Pragat Singh, said that the canal had been reconstructed a few years ago but even after a little rain, it gets damaged, increasing the farmers’ worries each time. They alleged that plastic sheets were not laid properly under the panels while constructing the canal, due to which water seeped out.
Another farmer, Bakhshish Singh, said that hundreds of trees near the canals that had dried up were also causing the breaches. Farmers have repeatedly demanded the authorities axe these dry trees. The Canal Department officials approached the Forest Department with a similar request, but the latter has yet to process the proposals. Whenever there is a storm or rain, parts of these dry trees fall into the canal and sometimes the trees get uprooted. However, the proposals have been gathering dust in the respective offices, farmers said. Meanwhile, the Canal Department team inspected the breach site and started work to plug the breach.
