Koraput: People of Budi village in Kotpad block of this district said they have lost their crops due to water shortage, and have asked the Collector to provide them food security.
They also decided to go to other states and work as bonded labourers if their problems were not sorted out, said Sony Burudi, a villager, Thursday.
Around 70 families of Khaparaput and Khaliput villages of Koraput block were shifted to Colony No: 5 (known as Baikunthapur) in Kotpad block, during the construction of the Kolab Dam in 1989. Of this, 33 families returned to Koraput block as there were no arable land and irrigation facilities in the new place.
The families who stay back in the resettlement colony said the government had promised to provide water to them during both kharif and rabi seasons through a canal dug near the village. But adequate water was not released, the villagers said.
The villagers had hoped to cultivate paddy this year as the weather was good in the sowing season, but lack of rain destroyed their crops. Around 50 families lost their crops.
The villagers had also raised the issue with the irrigation department and the block administration, but nothing was done. Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy promised the villagers that he would look into the matter.
PNN