Farmers blocked a national highway in Rajasthan’s Pali on Friday, protesting the administration's move of holding a meeting over the distribution of water from the Jawai dam at the district headquarters instead of Sumerpur.
The dam is located in the Sumerpur block of the district, around 70 kilometers from Pali city, where the district headquarters are located.
The administration had called a meeting over the issue on Monday, which was not attended by farmers.
They blocked the National Highway-14 near Sanderao on Friday, forcing police to divert the traffic to other routes.
Jayendra Singh Galthani, who led the farmers’ protest, accused the administration of ignoring them in the distribution of water for agriculture and drinking purposes.
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The meeting should have been held at Sumerpur as always and farmers should be satisfied with the decision of the administration, he said.
"Officials held the meeting in Pali and earmarked 4,010 MCFT of water for agriculture use and 3,000 MCFT of water for drinking purposes in our absence. We demand this meeting be held at Sumerpur again with the participation of farmers," said Galthani.
On the other hand, an official said the decision on the distribution of water was taken in consultation with all officials from the Irrigation and PHED Departments.
"None of the farmers or their representatives participated in this meeting. This is just an issue of their ego as they wanted the meeting to be held at Sumerpur as always," said the official on condition of anonymity.
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Galthani said they will withdraw their protest only after receiving assurance of a meeting at Sumerpur.
(Inputs from PTI)
