What you should know
The entire Madhesh province is dealing with water crisis. This water crisis that started at the time of planting seems to affect the food system itself. The Madhesh Province cabinet meeting held last Thursday declared the province drought-stricken.
The Chief Minister of Madhesh Province, Satish Kumar Singh, called for an all-round discussion to solve the problem of drinking water and drought-affected areas in Madhesh Province due to drought. He said that the state government will mobilize its resources to solve this problem and requested donor agencies for assistance.
In the Chure area, where there is a source of water, uncontrolled sand-gravel exploitation and forest destruction have created rivers, and there is no water in Pani. Panis have also been encroached upon. When the local level gave contracts for sand-gravel in the rivers of Chure area to increase their income, the water source has dried up due to uncontrolled and indiscriminate cutting. The provincial government is trying to supply water from fire engines and tankers to the districts of Madhesh, which are facing severe shortage of drinking water. Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh discussed the underground water crisis in Madhesh with Federal Water Minister Pradeep Yadav on Tuesday. Although the water crisis has been averted, the provincial government is not clear on how to allocate water for agriculture and commodity prices.
According to the provincial government, there is an extreme shortage of drinking water in Bara and Parsa now that the spring has dried up. In other districts as well, locals are forced to suffer for drinking water when chapakal dries up. If the extent of the water crisis is visible, The District Administration Office, Bara, held a meeting with all stakeholders, including the people's representatives of the municipality, and held an all-sided discussion on the water source and distribution system last Monday. The people's representatives have also put pressure on the municipality to collect water resources for irrigation management.
According to the Chief Minister's Office, drought and drinking water problems have been observed in all 136 municipalities of the province. Chief Minister Singh said in a meeting held on Thursday, "If paddy cannot be planted due to drought, it will cause a food crisis in the future."
Planting is decreasing in all the districts of Madhesh due to the water crisis. According to the Directorate of Agricultural Development, Madhesh Province, only 33.78 percent of paddy has been planted in Madhesh so far. In Madhesh province, paddy is cultivated in an area of 372 thousand 645 hectares. The directorate said that so far this year only 1 lakh 25 thousand 888 hectares have been planted.
According to Krishi Gyan Kendra, 40,000 hectares of rice is cultivated in Sarlahi this year. Kamaldev Prasad Mahato, Head of Knowledge Center Malangwa, said that the planting which will start from the first week of June is only being done in some irrigated areas. According to Mahato, only about 40 percent planting has been done in the district till Thursday. While last year at this time, about 80 percent of planting was finished.
