Summer migration now a norm for parched Changar residents

Arun Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ropar, May 31

As the lift irrigation project here is in limbo, a large number of residents of nearly two dozen villages in Changar area have once again left their homes with their cattle. In the absence of water supply, people belonging to Lakher, Samlah, Paharpur, Kahiwal, Harwali and Jindwari villages have to stay in the open with their cattle on the banks of Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib, every year.

‘Ponds dry up’

As ponds and wells go dry during the summer and the water supply is insufficient even for our household chores, we have no option but to shift to other areas. The work on lift irrigation was started in July last year. It was stopped in November and nobody knows when it will be restarted. — Sucha Ram, villager

Villagers of Paharpur, Samlah, Lakher, Kahiwal, Dhanera, Jindwari, Tapparian and Harwali said with the onset of summer every year, they had no option, but to migrate, along with their cattle, nearly 10 km away to the banks of the Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib.

As selling milk is their only source of livelihood, every family keeps a dozen cattleheads, which require a large quantity of water during summer for drinking and bathing. Moreover, in the absence of irrigation facilities in the sub-mountainous area, no fodder was available, they said.

Ganga Ram from Lakher village, who shifted to near Lodhipur, said he had been coming to the plains with cattle since childhood. As successive governments had failed in providing proper water supply to the area, they were continuing with the process to date.

Sucha Ram, who has also shifted at the same place, said: “As ponds and wells in the area go dry during the summer and government drinking water supply is insufficient even for our household chores, we have to shift to other areas. Though work on lift irrigation was started in July last year after Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh laid its foundation, it was stopped in November and nobody knows when it would be restarted.”

On January 24, 2019, while laying the foundation stone for the Rs9.52 crore lift irrigation project, Capt Amarinder Singh had stated it would be completed in nine phases and the first phase had been initiated.

When contacted, Irrigation Department Sub-divisional officer Jobanpreet Singh said work on the project was suspended when the Union Ministry of Forest objected to laying the pipeline in an area under the Punjab Land Preservation Act.

He said the ministry insisted that the Irrigation Department first handover the same size of land to the Forest Department at some other place and get it notified as protected forest area.

The SDO said the Irrigation Department had already handed over the required land to the Forest Department and it was expected that soon it would be notified as protected forest land so that a no-objection certificate (NOC) to start work on the lift irrigation scheme could be issued.