Friday April 4 2008 13:32 IST
ENS
PHULBANI: Agriculture has been badly hit in the district in the absence of adequate irrigation infrastructure. Quite a few minor irrigation projects (MIP) are lying defunct due to lack of maintenance creating dissatisfaction among the farmers.
Kakalbadi MIP in G.Udaygiri block of Kandhamal district is one of them. The construction work for the project was started in 1971 and it became functional in 1982 with a provision to irrigate 600 hectares of land. Later the area of irrigation was reduced to 486 ha. However, farmers of the area alleged that less then 100 acres of land are getting irrigated by this project due to the non-maintenance and filling up the canal by the sliding of earth. The canals are now crammed with waste plants. Due to mud and earth deposition, the water containing capacity of the dam has also been reduced.
Farmers alleged that last Rabi season paddy cultivated in about 90 acres was ruined due to non-supply of water from the project. As the minor irrigation authorities are not providing any incentives to the pani panchayat which was formed for the project, the panchayat is also not functioning properly, alleged James Mallick, sarpanch of Mallickpadi panchayat. Phulbani MIP Executive Engineer G P Prusty said to repair the Kakalbadi project Rs 10 to 15 lakh is required and in this financial year the amount will be arranged.
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