Lack of irrigation for Chaite paddy due to water blockage in the canal

In this irrigation scheme, which has a spring in the Koshi River at Chatra, it has been closed since May 5 for maintenance. Due to the blockage of water in the canal, there has been a lack of irrigation for Chaite paddy planted in about 50,000 hectares of Morang and Sunsari.

Farmers have complained that Chaite paddy has dried up and turned into straw due to lack of water in the main canal for a week . Rajan Luitel, a farmer of Morang Kanepokhari-3 Harakpur, said that in Harakpur only in an area of ​​more than 80 bigha, chaite rice was planted with the water of the irrigation scheme. At this time, paddy is in extreme need of water. Luitel complains that after the water stopped flowing in the canal, the paddy fields fell and cattle started dying.

Chhapanlal Chowdhury, a farmer there, said that in Baviyanvirta of Morang, the chaite paddy has started dying due to lack of irrigation. With the water of Sunsari Morang irrigation scheme, Chaite paddy has been planted in more than 200 bigha. The scheme has not released water in the canal for a week. Most of the farmers do not even have underground irrigation . Paddy started dying due to lack of water,' Choudhary said, 'When I called the head of the project, Kumbhamela said that the water in the canal has stopped.'

According to the head of Agricultural Knowledge Center Morang, Ramdev Singh, chaite paddy has been cultivated in more than 25,000 hectares in Morang alone. According to Vivekananda Jha, manager of Arju Rai Mills located in Belwari, chaite paddy cultivation has been planted in Morang in 1000 bighas only in the name of the mill. But the irrigation scheme did not release water into the canal and the rice taps started drying up, he said. According to

irrigation scheme sources, Sunsari and Morang administration along with the federal and state governments sent a letter to the scheme to stop the water in the canal and instructed them to support the Kumbh Mela by providing water for bathing to the devotees. Sources told Kantipur that the instructions mentioned to stop the water in the canal and make the canal water available for bathing to the devotees .

At least 17 cumax of water has flowed from the new intake of the scheme near the new bridge at Chatra on Koshi river to the old intake 1300 meters south. That water is left in the Koshi Bhangalo to bathe the devotees in the Kumbh Mela . The 3.2 megawatt power generation that was being generated by the water flowing in the main canal of the plan has also been stopped due to the water in the canal.

This irrigation scheme has been irrigating 68,000 hectares of Sunsari and Morang during the rainy season. In these two districts, Chaite paddy has been planted with the water of this canal. There are 21 branch canals of this irrigation scheme with 52 km of main canal in two districts.

'Kumbh Mela is only connected,' engineer Kumar Ghimire said, 'For regular maintenance of Mul Nahar, water has been shut off in Mul Nahar from Baisakh 5th to June 15th. Repair work In the beginning, the plan informed the farmers that they could not provide water for Chaite paddy cultivation.

He claimed that the canal was closed after informing the farmers.