Water becomes a bane for paddy farmers

PATHANKOT/GURDASPUR: Functioning of the Gurdaspur drainage department is under scanner following clogged drains posing threat to thousands of acres of paddy fields and the Chakki river changing its course and flowing nearer to residential colony and highway during incessant rains in Gurdaspur district since the last three years.
While the farmers and affected residents on Friday demanded a high-level probe into the functioning of drainage department stating funds worth crores of rupees were spent annually to clean these drains and raise concrete structures in Chakki river to check its threat to Saili Kulian locality in Pathankot and NHAI and NH-20 in the area, but no results were visible.However, the officials concerned said sufficient funds for these projects were not available to do the needful.
A resident of Bhaini Mian Khan, Sujeet Singh, said on Friday his 10-acre of paddy crop has been damaged by excessive water logging due to a overflowing drain. Besides, about more than 700 acres of the crop has been badly hit in neighbouring Nanowal, Khurd, Gaursian, Merhe, Jhande Lubana, Kotli, Jhandegujran among other villages, along this drain.
He alleged the natural drain was levelled by unscrupulous elements for commercial use. Similarly, the Kiran nullah, which begins from Behrampur, passes through Kalanour village and falls into Amritsar district, has not been cleaned for years. Farmers of Kilanathupur - Subedar Kuldeep Singh and Balwinder Singh - said while the overflowing Kiran drain has not affected their paddy crop.
Besides, the situation was equally bad in neighbouring Manepur, Deriwal, Samalpur, Akwana, Balgan, Bhopar, Shagguwal and other villages , where at least 1500 acres of paddy crops have been damaged due to excessive water logging due to drain overflow.
They said several delegations of farmers have met the concerned officials of the department and agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah in this regard, but no action has yet been taken.
Surinder Kumar, a resident of Saili Kullian said, while the Chakki river threat to the locality in Pathankot has increased , the river threat posed to the NHAI at Nangal Bhoor and the NH-20 at Dalhousie road is real as it flows very near to these two points. However, despite representations given to the authorities and the State Transport minister, no action has been taken so far.
When contacted, Gurdaspur Drainage Department EXN Sohan Singh said on Friday , though a fund of Rs 1.20 crore has been sanctioned to build concrete structures in Chakki river to divert flow of the river, which is posing threat to dwelling units in Saili Kulain and the national highways , work could not commence due to the early onset of monsoons.
Now, the department is seeking model work from Amritsar institute and the work will commence probably in November or December . Besides, most of the drains could not be cleared due to paucity of funds. In addition, the state government has sent a proposal to the Centre for cleaning the Kiran nullah, which is 170 km long and falls into Amritsar. The cleaning work will commence as and when funds arrive, he added.
He was unaware about the damage caused by the flooded drains to crops in Kahnuwan.