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Friday, Jun 10, 2005

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Rajasthan farmers warn Govt. over Indira canal water

Special Correspondent

Public meeting in Bikaner on June 16, rallies in Anupgarh and Gharsana in July planned

JAIPUR: Farmer leaders of north-west Rajasthan have warned the State administration against spreading thin the water of the Indira Gandhi Canal Project. The Canal Project, when conceived in the 1960s, was meant for irrigation alone but it was fast turning into a drinking water project with separate schemes for the cities of Bikaner, Jodhpur and Ajmer leading to a serious water crunch in the Phase I, they point out.

"The project is now replete with unrealistic schemes which are based on non-existent water. As such the 7.5 million acre feet water for the Indira Gandhi Canal Project promised in 1966 was cut down to 7 MAF by the inter-State agreement of 1981. Now they are planning more schemes and are promising irrigation in 48 lakh acres of land when the available water can irrigate only 25 lakh acres,'' Hetram Beniwal, former MLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said.

Mr.Beniwal, one of the leaders who spearheaded the farmers agitation for irrigation water -- which turned violent at Gharsana and Rawla in Sriganganagar district in October leading to a few deaths in police firing -- said the farmers of Phase I were not against drinking water schemes. They were also not for curtailment in supply to Phase II areas but were worried about the decline in the farm productivity in the districts of Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner, he said.

"Drinking water schemes can be given priority but the authorities should introduce water pipes instead of open canals for carrying the water. When oil pipelines can be laid across many countries why not pipelines for drinking water,'' he asked.

"Prior to 1990 the areas under Phase I used to produce 2.5 lakh bales of cotton, 15 lakh tonnes of wheat and 8 lakh tonnes of oil seeds annually. Now it is 2000 bales of cotton, 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 5,000 tonnes of mustard,'' Sant Lekha Singh, president of the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti, under the banner of which the farmers held the agitation, said.

The leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangrsh Samiti, including Sahibram Punia and Ballabh Kochar were in the State capital on Thursday to attend a meeting of the committee on the use of Indira Gandhi Canal water, set up as a part of the truce they had with the State Government on December 11, 2004.

They later met the media persons to say that they had boycotted in meeting protesting against non-fulfilment of the conditions made in the agreement.

"The decision was to make available 58 per cent of water in the Pong dam to the Phase I areas and the rest to the Phase II. Two separate committees were set up for the purpose but the promises have remained on paper. The committees have only an advisory role while the Commissioner, Bikaner would decide on the water distribution as it was in the past,'' Ballabh Kochar pointed out.

The farmers are planning a large public meeting on June 16 at Kajuwala in Bikaner to be followed by two rallies in Anupgarh and Gharsana in July to highlight their stand prior to resuming the agitation.

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