Canal has been covered and turned into a personal road at Deras Dam
After being served a legal notice for alleging encroachment of government land by an entrepreneur in Deras dam area on the outskirts of Odisha capital.
“Triveni Company has covered the canal coming from Deras dam and as a result we are not able to do any agricultural activities. Though we have requested the company authorities to unblock the canal several times, they are not paying any heed to our requests,” alleged a local Farmers.
A farmer complained “We are poor people. We are totally dependent on agriculture. Our livelihood is at stake as we are not getting water through the canal for the last two years”.
Bhubaneswar MP and BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi visited the spot on Thursday and held discussion with the local people and officials of Irrigation Department in this regard.
“We have one aim and that is to provide water to the farmers from Deras dam. An influential woman with the help of his colleagues has obstructed the irrigation project. A State government employee has also extended his full support in the matter,” said MP Aparajita Sarangi .
Bhubaneswar MP said, It’s sheer injustice to the poor farmers of the area. As per the map shown by the State Irrigation Department, 400m of land has been encroached. When we dug few places on the encroached land, we found concrete channel of the irrigation project which has been obstructed.
MP Aparajita Sarangi also said, For the benefit of the farmers we have to remove the obstruction and recover the irrigation project. As we don’t want to take law into our own hands, we will follow the proper procedure.
We will send a letter with all the related supporting documents to the Chief Engineer of Irrigation Department requesting to take proper action to remove the illegal encroachment within three days. If any action is not taken, farmers in the area will remove the obstruction and dig canals by themselves”.