Promised water supply, Abohar farmers vacate highway after 3 days

Abohar, May 22

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Farmers, who had been staging a dharna against the suspension of canal water supply for the past three days, today agreed to vacate the national highway after Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal assured them that supply would be restored by Wednesday. They also submitted a memorandum against the Irrigation Department to the DC.

Hundreds of farmers had blocked NH-10 and NH-15 for the past three days due to which the traffic was hit.

Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar, Fazilka ex-MLA Mohinder Rinwa and BJP kisan wing leader Dhanpat Sihag also sat on the dharna yesterday, condemning the state government for failing to repair the breach in the Sirhind Feeder canal that also hit the Indira Gandhi Canal reconstruction work. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday spoke to his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann over the phone, requesting him to get the repair done. Ten districts in Rajasthan were affected due to delay in repair work.

BKU leader Sukhjinder Singh Rajan said on May 9, a breach occurred in the Sirhind canal near Sotha Headworks in Muktsar due to “substandard” work done in the past. As a result, dozens of canals in Fazilka, Ferozepur and Muktsar districts were closed. Irrigation Minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa had assured that the water would be released soon but the repair work was not completed.