Farmers in Odisha's Kendrapara district protested on Friday, demanding water for irrigating their fields.
They blocked the Kendrapara-Gandakhia Road at Ayeba Chhack, stating that many villages in the Kendrapara block were not receiving water for agriculture.
Farmers in Kendrapara, Pattamundai, Jamboo, and Marsaghai get water from the canals in October to grow black grams, green grams, potatoes, sugar canes, and vegetables. However, this year the thin flow of water in the canals has caused an alarm, said Madhab Das, the vice-president of the district unit of Krusaka Sabha.
"I planted mustard on my two-acre land two weeks back. Non-availability of water in the canal will dash all my hopes to harvest the crop in December," said Pramod Jena, a farmer of Kansar village.
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Umesh Sethi, the superintendent engineer of the district irrigation department, said a group of fishermen illegally blocked the Kendrapara canal to catch fish.
"This has led to the areas at the tail-end of the canal not getting water. We have unblocked the canal with the help of the police to ensure a good flow of water. Desilting works of other canals are also going on in war footing, and farmers will get water within a week for their Rabi crops," he said.
(Inputs from PTI)
