Upset over insufficient supply of canal water, Abohar farmers block highway

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, June 29

Bhartiya Kisan Union Rajewal members blocked the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway today in protest against shortage of canal water and the rotational system adopted by the Water Resources Department for water supply.

On Friday as well, traffic remained suspended from 10 am to 4 pm due to blockade on this highway by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha against transit loss in Gang Canal.

Announcing that the protest will continue until their demands are met, farmers staged a dharna at Gidderanwali toll plaza and blocked the road. Due to the protest, long queues of vehicles were formed although the protesters allowed the ambulances to pass through.

Farmer leaders Sukhwinder Singh Sukh and Sukhjinder Singh Rajan said that their crops were being affected due to insufficient supply of canal water, but on top of that, the Water Resources Department had forced a rotational system. Apart from cotton and other crops, orchards are suffering huge losses.

“Although the government is claiming to provide full water to the farmers, the reality is the opposite and the crops are drying up”, a farm leader alleged.

For double whammy to farmers of tail-end villages, an erosion developed in the poorly designed Lambi Minor (sub canal) that feeds the villages near the inter-state border. Officials said water flow from the headworks has been slashed and a JCB machine was arranged to plug the breach. The sub canal was earlier closed for a week under the rotational basis.