Bhater Bassa villagers threaten protest amid irrigation woes

A lift irrigation scheme feeding half a dozen villages in Bhater Bassa area of Haripur (Dehra Gopipur tehsil) has become defunct in the absence of proper repair and maintenance.

The Jal Shakti Department had launched the scheme a few years ago to lift water from the Baner river to irrigate the fields of the area.

During a visit to the affected villages this afternoon, a team of The Tribune found that the Jal Shakti Department had virtually abandoned this scheme.

Much of the equipment of the scheme has outlived its lifespan, and is beyond repair. Valuable electric motors and water pumps of the scheme were spotted discarded in the open. Captain Kuldip, a resident of Bhater Bassa village, said the lift irrigation scheme was meant for feeding 30 hectares. However, the Jal Shakti Department had not been repairing and maintaining the scheme for the past few years, resulting in great inconvenience to the farmers of the area.

Vegetable crop cultivated over 20 hectares was destroyed in the past 10 days. Farmers suffered losses in lakhs. According to Bhater farmers, they had made a number of complaints to the Assistant Engineer and the Junior Engineer of the Jal Shakti Department, but no efforts were made to restore or repair the equipment of the irrigation schemes.

According to the farmers, they met local MLA Hoshiar Singh last year and apprised him of the problems being faced by them in the absence of irrigation facilities.

Villagers said if the department failed to restore irrigation facilities, they would stage a dharna in front of the office of the Executive Engineer of the Jal Shakti Department (Dehra Gopipur).

Villagers said that there was also a shortage of drinking water in the village. They were getting tapped water once every four days. They claimed that the water being supplied by the Jal Shakti Department to the village was directly lifted from Baner Khud. The filtration beds installed in the Baner river were washed away last monsoon and are yet to be repaired.

Meanwhile, a senior officer of the Jal Shakti Department said efforts were underway to repair the water pumps of the department’s scheme.

The department had sent a request with the proposed budget to the state government, a reply to which is awaited.