India has written to the Narayani Irrigation Management Office, Birgunj, stating that it cannot provide water through the Gandak Canal for wheat cultivation. India has written a formal letter to the Narayani Irrigation Management Office, Birgunj, expressing its inability to provide water through the Gandak Canal for wheat cultivation during the season this year.

The canal branch in Ramnagar, West Champaran, India, wrote to the office chief Manoj Patel on Tuesday, said Engineer Suresh Prasad Sah, information officer of the office. 'Earlier, there was no formal letter from the Indian side regarding not providing water to the canal,' he said, 'Now that the formal letter has been received, it is certain that there will be no water in the canal this year during the wheat crop season.' Sah said that the Indian side will carry out cleaning and maintenance work in the canal this year and a contract agreement has been signed for this, but expressed its inability to provide water to the canal this winter. Since the canal will not receive water in the winter, not only wheat but also mustard, lentil, potato and sugarcane crops will be deprived of irrigation in the irrigated area of ​​about 28,000 hectares of the canal in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat districts will be deprived of irrigation.

The Indian side releases water into the canal from a barrage built on the Nepal-India border at Triveni Bhainsalotan in Nawalparasi. After traveling 93 km in India, this canal enters Nepal from Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality of Parsa. The length of the Gandak Canal, divided into 15 blocks in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat, is 81 km on the Nepal side. In Nepal, this canal ends at the Bagmati River in Rautahat.

According to the Gandak Agreement, the Indian side is supposed to provide 850 cusecs of water to the canal for wheat crops. Due to the non-availability of water as per the agreement and lack of regular maintenance of the canal in Indian territory, the canal does not reach the last point of the canal, i.e. the eastern part of Rautahat.