Ichagarh (Seraikela-Kharsawan), Jharkhand
Maksood Alam is a tailor in Ichagarh. The 30-year-old owns four bigha land and pre-1985, farming was the sole source of his family’s income as Alam was able to grow at least two crops in a year, which was enough to feed and clothe the family. “But, I had to start tailoring to augment my earning as agriculture was no longer enough,” Alam told Gaon Connection.
He blames the dilapidated Kanchi river canal for forcing him to take up tailoring works. The canal, which used to help irrigate his field, is in dire need of repairs and is dry for most part of the year.
“If the canal is repaired and there is water in it again, I can go back to cultivation, and so can many other farmers,” Alam said. He earns only about Rs 4,000, with the produce from his farm now, and felt that his earnings would double if the irrigation facility worked more efficiently.
Thousands of cultivators in Ichagarh block in Seraikela-Kharsawan district in Jharkhand are suffering due to the poorly maintained canal.
“The canal is in dire need of repairs and in its current state is of no use at all to the 5,000 odd population of Ichagarh,” Rakhohari Singh Munda, mukhiya (head) of Patkum panchayat in Ichagarh block, complained to Gaon Connection. Some villages in Khunti and Ranchi districts are also affected.
Commissioned in the 1960s, the Kanchi river canal project that gets its waters from the Kanchi river, is spread over 150 kilometres and is a source of irrigation for 17,800 hectares of land cultivated by over 50,000 farmers of five blocks in Khunti, Ranchi and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts of the state. The canal starts from Ranchi district, flows through Khunti and ends in Seraikela Kharsawan.
But neglect and the fact that large tracts of the canal continue to be kuccha (non-lined and uncemented) has led to the water drying up in large tracts, complain the farmers.
Farmers from the five panchayats in the Ichagarh block are forced to depend on the monsoon for cultivation, Munda, the mukhiya, added. “More and more young people are migrating out in search of better sources of livelihood as farming is proving to be a struggle,” he said.
Since the mid 1980s, the canal has ceased to be of any significant help to the farmers of Ichagarh block who have appealed to the district administration to look into the matter.
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High and dry
Till 1985, things worked fine, Amar Gope, a resident of Ichagarh village, told Gaon Connection. “Water was being released into the canal and its branch canals. But, due to the damage in several parts of the canal, water flow has been blocked. Villagers carried out temporary repairs a couple of times, but they were not very effective,” Gope said.
Government apathy had rendered the canal non-functional for more than four decades, Gope complained. “If the state government takes note of it and acts, it might help farmers improve their earnings,” he said.
The Kanchi canal comes under the Bundu Sichai Pramandal (Bundu irrigation division) department that has six sub-divisions. While some parts of the canal have been cemented, many others are not. As a result, along its banks, there is neglect and damage.
The cemented portions of the canal, with no water flowing into them, have turned into playgrounds for children and cattle graze in the bushes and weeds that have sprung up along its sides and on the canal bed. This is especially true of villages such as Ladudih, Silli, Lava and Ichagarh.
Between Lowadih and Maisada village in Ichagarh, the kaccha boundaries of the canal have been washed away. Food vendors, hotels and other shops are constructed near the canal in Ichagarh and other villages.
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There is a wooden bridge in Salugdih in Sonahatu block of Ranchi district constructed by the villagers to cross the canal which is now no more than a drain with waste water released into it, they said.
“Fresh water flows here only between June to August during the monsoons,” Sahodar Mahato of Salugdih village, told Gaon Connection. This branch of the canal was cemented only recently, he added.
The canal from Kanchi river into Lowadih village in Sonahatu block of Ranchi district is yet to be cemented fully and it is damaged in various places, and has had no significant repairs carried out on it since 1985, complained the villagers.
In some of the villages, those farmers who have ponds and wells are continuing to cultivate crops, but others are abandoning agriculture, said Kailash Mahto from Narsingwadi village.
“There is just one-time cropping now and because of that farmers remain unemployed for the rest of the year,” Lakhimani Kumari, also from Narsingwadi, told Gaon Connection.
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Representations galore
The farmers said that they have agitated several times to draw attention to the disuse of the Kanchi canal and the impact it is having especially in Ichagarh.
“Since 2014, we have agitated and conducted several pad yatras to highlight the problem,” Ambika Yadav, founder member of the social organisation Jharkhand Kisan Parishad in Ichagarh, told Gaon Connection.
“Villagers have requested the executive engineer of the irrigation department in Bundu block to repair the damages. This will stem the migration from these villages and the farmers will do better,” Yadav pointed out. “Now, the villagers are planning to meet Chief Minister Hemant Soren,” he added.
The non-cemented canal constructed by the irrigation department was partially repaired in 2010-11. Of its six branch canals, cementing of five of them is under progress. Repair work of the branch canal from Lowadih to Maisada is yet to be started.
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The work would be completed in two years time, assured Vikas Kumar Munda, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Tamar, at a recent public meeting. He specified that the canal from Kanchi river to Ichagarh including Tamar, Silli, Sonahatu and Arki blocks would be repaired. Farmers would then get water for two crops a year. The government was also planning the construction of a barrage or dam at Kanchi river, the MLA assured.
That would change things completely, said Saraswati Munda of Ranadih village in Ranchi district. “We would grow vegetables and since the markets of Ranchi and Jamshedpur are nearby, farmers would get a good price,” she told Gaon Connection. Elephants in the area would also benefit if there was water in the canal, she added.
Repairing the canal
“Kanchi canal’s repair work at the cost of Rs 12 crores, began in May 2022, and and cementing of the main canal from Kanchi to Salgadih, Dulmi and Lowadih will be completed in three to four months more,” Rajesh Kumar, sub divisional officer (SDO) irrigation, based in Lowadih, told Gaon Connection.
The irrigation department has sent a detailed project report to the state government about the repairs needed in the 28.5 kilometre branch canal from Lowadih to Maisara and Adradih in Ichagarh block, the SDO said.
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“After we get the approval from the state cabinet, the branch canal covering villages in Ichagarh will be repaired at an expected cost of Rs 65 crore,” Rajesh Kumar said.
The SDO acknowledged that farmers in the Ichagarh block were suffering as no repairs had been carried out since the canal’s formation from Lowadih to Maisara and Adradih. “The canal was also damaged due to regular movement of elephants in the area,” he said.
According to him, the irrigation department has also submitted a proposal for constructing a barrage on the Kanchi river that would create a water reservoir facility. Technical and administration approval is awaited in this regard.
“Presently water is being supplied to the canal only during monsoon season due to lack of storage facility”, the SDO said.