Tardy canal work worries farmers

PARADIP: Even as the decision to double Taladanda canal as a road had brought cheers to the people of Cuttack and  Jagatsinghpur districts, the tardy progress of work in the third phase has left the farmers worried over the supply of water for irrigation. With barely three months left for the deadline to end _ 15 July _ uncertainty looms large over completion of the canal bridge.The ` 98-crore project aimed at renovating Odisha’s longest British era Taladanda canal system had been divided into three parts. Official sources said ` 9.67 crore had been spent in the first reach from Biribati to Tarpur, ` 11.57 crore for the second from Tarpur to Jaipur and `19.20 crore in the third reach from Jaipur to Bhutmundei. Besides, ` 22.66 crore would be spent on renovation of three of its branch canals.It had been planned to install nearly 200 tube-wells on both sides of the canal embankment, construct 26 bridges, take up dredging of canals and stone packing besides starting two regulating systems to control the water. A Bangalore-based construction agency had been given the contract for renovation of the canal from Jaipur to Bhutmundai and an agreement was signed with the State’s Irrigation Department in 2008 to complete work by July 2012. However, meeting the deadline looks bleak.A retired engineer Banamaber Sahu said, “Of the total 26 bridges, construction of even a single one in the last reach was yet to start. Stone packing, dredging and other works too were yet to begin. The delay would deprive thousands of farmers of water for agriculture purposes,” he added.Farmers alleged non-supply of irrigation water for nearly three years had hampered rabi crop and if the situation remained the same the lands would turn barren.Non-supply of water through this canal forced the Irrigation Department to supply Mahanadi river water to the residents of port city for drinking purposes for two years. Executive Engineer, Taladanda canal irrigation division, Rajkishore Das said, “We have sought the intervention of Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Irrigation Department, to change the contract agency if it did not meet the deadline.”