People in Hajin demand desilting of irrigation canals before agri season

People in Hajin demand desilting of irrigation canals before agri season

Hajin: With agriculture season approaching, the residents of Hajin town in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district have urged the district administration to start desilting irrigation canals.

They said that after desilting, they will not face any difficulty in irrigating their farms and orchards in the coming season.

Talking to Kashmir Reader, a group of farmers said that Irrigation and Flood Control Department has failed to desilt irrigation canals in the area due to which the people were forced to desilt the canals on their own last year.

“Last year also, we were told that once this paddy season gets over, they will start the desilting process, but till date, it has not been started yet,” Noor Mohammad Shah, a local, told Kashmir Reader.

This is the right time to start desilt of the canals as once the water starts to flow through these canals, it gets difficult to take in hand the desilting process, he added.

The farmers said the entire agricultural land comprising thousands of paddy land will turn barren if the irrigation canal from Anzkhud to Bonikhan is not cleaned this year. “This Bonikhan irrigation canal is the only source of irrigating our fields,” said another farmer, adding that silt has accumulated in these canals which obstructs the free flow of water.

The canal as of now is completely blocked, the farmers said.

The locals said these irrigation canals were never cleaned for the last ten years despite the issue being brought to the notice of the concerned department.

“All our pleas went unheard,” they said and appealed to the Deputy Commissioner Bandipora to look into the matter personally.

AEE Irrigation and Flood Control Department Khursheed Ahmad said the desilting of Anzkhud is a serious issue.

“The command area adjacent to the head of this gund/drainage cut remains submerged due to the very small gradient of the drainage cut and due to huge deposition of silt and some unwanted weed which has almost choked the irrigation canal. This has made the farming land near the head of gund unfit for tillage i.e. preparation of land for crops,” he said.

“Simultaneously, sufficient water does not reach the tail end or for that matter the above-mentioned pump stations viz. LIS Yechhguir and LIS Bonikhan. “We have projected the demand before higher authorities. Even this year, we tried to clean it but due to the significant depth of the cut, it was not possible to clean it with the help of a mechanical excavator. Also, due to the paucity of funds, we could not arrange for a poclain, a hydraulic machine which can work inside the drainage cut Anzkhud,” he said.

Once funds are received, some portion of the drainage cut will be cleaned immediately, Khursheed said, adding, “To clean it head to tail, we will project the demand to higher-ups.”

 

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