Palamau saves farmland
- Ten villages pool in to build canal, divert water for irrigation
A.S.R.P. MUKESH
Ranchi, Oct. 1: What the administration and politicians couldn’t do for years, a group of villagers in Palamau did in a month — they built a canal to harness water for their farmlands.
Spending over Rs 5 lakh which they generated on their own, residents of around 10 villages in Mohmmadganj block of the district built a 300 feet dam by diverting Gauraha river, a tributary of Kasa, to harness water for irrigation.
Last month, they built a 3,000 feet-long canal, which they used to connect the newly built dam to a 50-year-old dam from where water will reach their fields across villages.
“The dam will now be ready to provide water to 10-14 villages namely, Gram Bali, Batua, Goradih, Karari, Lapori, Mali et al,” said Uday Singh, a local resident who was one of the prominent volunteers of the campaign.
“During rains, the Gauraha river has good amount of water and merges into the Koel River. But now we have diverted the flow of the river through this dam to bring water to our villages to irrigate thousands of acres,” he explained.
Men, women and children worked day and night to make this dream come true. “For so many years, our fields have been reeling under acute water crisis. Now it will get water for irrigation,” said 55-year-old Kanhayia, who contributed Rs 10,000 to the endeavour.
Over the years, villagers were tired of the false assurances they were being fed by various political leaders and local MLAs.
“This time, we pledged that come what may, we will construct this dam. Whatever expectations we had with our ministers, specially after the formation of Jharkhand, haven’t been fulfilled. They all failed to keep their promise,” said Singh.
As of now, the dam has water up to one-and-a-half feet. “Due to poor rainfall this time, the water level in the river has been low. But we are hopeful that our efforts will help us in the future,” he added.
What were the challenges they faced?
“Bureaucratic interference was nil because no one ever listens to us,” exclaimed Kanhayia. “The river runs through two forest hills. Since we didn’t have enough finances, we just worked with 10 tractors and two earthmovers. Rest was our labour,” said Suranjit Manjhi.
When contacted Palamau deputy commissioner Puja Singhal Purwar said, “I have taken note of it. If required we will try our best to extend all possible help to these villagers.”
Coutesy: The Telegraph
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