Paddy crop on verge of drying up in Pulwama due to defunct water pump, farmers worried

Pulwama July 3: Paddy crop spread over hundreds of Kanals of land in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district is on the verge of drying as the pump station that would irrigate the fields remains defunct for more than a month now, leaving farmers worried.

Farmers from Quasibagh, Badibagh, Hakripora and Hassanwani vilages, some six km from the district headquarters Pulwama, told Greater Kashmir that the pump station located on the banks of a stream in Hakripora is the only source of irrigation to their paddy fields.

   

The pump station was damaged a month ago after part of the stream bank was washed away causing a drought-like situation in the area even as the paddy fields have also dried up, they said.

Mohammad Shaban Mir, a farmer from Quasibagh village feared that if the district administration fails to restore the pump station in the next few days, he will lose the crop this year.

“Around one thousand kanals of land has been affected by the drought-like condition in four villages of the area,” Mir said.

Another worried farmer, Mohammad Ashraf, said that the paddy crop is the lone source of income of the affected villages which they will lose if the pump station is not fixed.

“We have approached the concerned authorities many times in the past twenty days but nothing has been done so far, ” Ashraf alleged.

When contacted, Executive Engineer Awantipora, Harprinder Singh said he has visited the spot and assessed the loss in the pump station saying the department will provide an “alternate” mode of irrigation to the farmers on “war footing basis” in the next few days.

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