Bandipora, June 28: Hundreds of farmers have failed to transplant paddy into their fields due to absence of irrigation facility here.
 Farmers alleged that a canal which is only source of irrigation to them has got choked. “The Gadar canal which caters to dozens of villages and some urban pockets including Bandipora town has been choked by the huge deposition of silt,” they said.
 “More than 200 kanals of agricultural land in Bandipora town alone have become unfit for cultivation due to absence of irrigation,” said Ghulam Muhammad, a farmer.
 He said due to slow flow in the canal, the water could not reach the fields falling at its tail end.
 A group of the farmers said they had requested the authorities concerned to clean the canal. “Despite such requests, the canal lies as it is,” they rued.
 They alleged the Irrigation Department did not pay any attention to the canal. “It is we people who sometimes clean the canal, yet the department prefers bills for the work that we do,” they said.
 “We have several times cleaned the canal. But after that we witnessed officials/engineers concerned measuring the area cleaned by us to prefer bills” said Muhammad Ramzan, a farmer.
 When contacted Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department, Kashmir, Mir Najeebullah assured the canal would be cleaned and fields made worth cultivation in a few days.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST