Canal water contamination: SKM seeks Governor’s intervention
Abohar, August 31
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has sought the intervention of Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade to check canal water contamination in Punjab as the menace was responsible for the spread of cancer and other fatal diseases in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts besides neighbouring Fazilka and Abohar areas.
A deputation led by Amar Singh Bishnoi, district president of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee, a constituent of SKM, and Gurbalpal Singh Sandhu, former chairman of the Gang Canal Project, met the Governor at Hindumalkot, 31 km from here, and explained the problems of the farmers of the Gang Canal area.
In a memorandum given to the Governor on his first visit to the border district of Sriganganagar, the deputation said thousands of farmers in Sriganganagar district do not get the prescribed water for irrigation. They said in Fazilka and other areas, farmers also steal water from Gang Canal on a large scale. The deputation said due to Rajasthan not being a permanent member of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), lakhs of cusecs of water were allowed to go to Pakistan from Ropar, Harike, and Ferozepur headworks.
The deputation urged the Governor to make arrangements to stop the water from going to Pakistan and make it available to the farmers of Sriganganagar and other districts. They said apart from Sriganganagar, farmers of Fazilka and other districts were supplied canal water on a rotation basis.
The deputation said dirty and poisonous water from sewerage and factories in the state was being mixed with the canal water used for farming as well as drinking water, due to which people in 10 districts of Rajasthan had to suffer from various diseases. They said farmers and other non-government organisations had been raising the problem in the representations submitted to the successive Punjab, Rajasthan, and Central Governments besides the National Green Tribunal but of no avail.
KSS spokesman Subhash Sehgal told ‘The Tribune’ that the Governor discussed all the problems that the farmers were facing and assured them of a solution.
