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| Canals' desilting become a ritual for Irrigation Deptt in Jammu region | | Two weeks left to release water, Deptt yet to start desilting | | 
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 26: The Irrigation Department has utterly failed to start desilting of canals on time as two weeks are left to release water into the canals, the department concerned yet to carry out desilting of major canals including Ranbir Canal, Pratap canals and Ravi Tawi Canals.
An official informed Early Times that couple of days back, the department concerned has floated tenders for desilting of major canals, but most of the contractors did not participate in tendering process because of huge liabilities of contractors which aren't cleared so far by department concerned.
"Now the department has allotted segment wise canal desilting to local contractors but all of them are still hesitating to start work" said an official.
Another official said that the department owes 6 Crore to five contractors who are making rounds of office to get their payment but the department remained adamant to release the liability.
"The Ranbir Canal from Satwari to R S Pura has become dumping ground of garbage for local vendors and local residents. They are putting lot of polythene, thermocol sheets even debris has been dumped on the bed of canal but the department turned blind eye toward it", said local Umesh Kumar. However, the department had enacted Water Act, 2010 which gives right to the department for taking action against those found throwing garbage into canals but the lower rung officials never take action against the violators, not a single person has been penalised for gruesome act, said a activist Amit Kumar.
Castigating farmer friendly ministers in erstwhile BJP-PDP government, a farmer Manjeet Singh said that two BJP's former 'farmers' leaders' when who were on opposition benches, had vociferously raised the issues of farmers like properly desilting , shortage of fertilizers but when their turn come as minister of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, both of them failed to translate promises into work. The callousness on part of department gauged from this fact that dozens of sewerage nallah are flowing into Ranbir Canal and Nai Basti canal since long time and accumulates metric tonnes garbage on the bed of canals which obstruct the free flow of water, resulting the tail end villages have been deprived from irrigation in peak summer season but nobody seems bothered about it.
Now the farmers of R S Pura demanded to Governor to look into the matter and take necessary action for properly desilting of major canals, otherwise farmers will be suffer during peak summer season. |
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