Champua: Even as the district faces a drought-like situation, farming activities were badly affected in over 35 acres of farmland of Rajia panchayat under Champua block in Keonjhar after the electricity department disconnected power supply to a lift irrigation point.
Also read: Inadequate rains hit paddy farmers in Keonjhar district
Keonjhar farmers have been facing acute irrigation problems over the past three months as there has been sporadic rainfall in the district. Most farmlands have become dry and paddy seedlings have died out.
“Even as the local farmers have already started farming activities, they apprehend drought-like conditions in the days ahead. There has hardly been any monsoon rain over the past three months,” some vegetable farmers of Maheswarpur village of this panchayat namely Jadumani Mohanta, Padmalochan Mohanta and Dhaneswar Mohanta lamented.
Power supply to a lift irrigation point located at Maheswarpur area was disconnected on the pretext of safety reasons. After being affected, local vegetable farmers in this area had resorted to Champua Sub-Collector Pratap Pritimaya for immediate redressal.
Seeking anonymity, an engineer of the electricity department said, “Power supply was disconnected as a live electric wire hangs there at a lower level.”
Notably, local farmers have been cultivating vegetables here for over ten years under the Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana. They largely depend on deep wells for irrigation of farmlands this Kharif season. The live wire is said to have been hanging for over ten years and power supply was disconnected July 21 this year.
On being contacted, Champua Sub-Collector said, “Necessary and immediate steps will be taken in this regard keeping in mind the safety of farmers. Lift irrigation engineer and Champua tehsildar have been informed accordingly and assigned the task of restoring supply.”
PNN