Farmers of Khandwa and Barwani districts are agitating against the government for alleged deliberate delay in starting work on the main canal of Indira Sagar dam project. A patch of 2 km is yet to be constructed in the total constructed length of 107 km. They, however, have said they would wait for a court decision on which hearing is going on.
“The farmers say they will intensify their move against the government,” a government source said pointing to the fact, “Jabalpur HC has stayed the construction work on the canal after a PIL filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) by way of an interim order on July 1, 2009.”
The court granted a status-quo in the land acquisition and canal excavation work for the Indira Sagar and Omkareashwar Projects after they (NBA) raised some issues such as violation of Article 243 of the Constitution and the mandate of no-land acquisition without prior Gram Sabha consultation as per the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. The source,however, said, “A hearing is going on the NBA petition at the Jabalpur High court.”
The source also said, “The patch would have been constructed before the court order as the rest of the length had been constructed.” Had the patch been constructed on time, the constructed length of 107 Km of the canal would be irrigating 88, 000 hectares of land by now.
The farmers are angry over non-availability of water through the canal and alleged the government was responsible for their plight. “We hardly have any water to irrigate our rabi crops this year, we had pinned our hopes on the canal but government’s apathy on construction of a small patch of the canal has spoiled every thing,” Mohan Khure, a farmer and a social activist who runs his NGO Nidan in Barwani said. He led and participated a march in Bhopal the other said adding, “we are compelled to protest further.” The total lenght of ISP canal is 243 kms and irrigation area will be 1,23000 hectares. The 2 km stretch which was to be constructed, according to a senior official in Narmada Valley Development Authority, is Rs 5 crore.
