Farmlands Crack In Odisha’s Keonjhar As farmers Block Road For Irrigation Water

Bhubaneswar: Aggrieved farmers of Banchho village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district’s Hatadihi on Thursday block staged a road blockade on Thursday, demanding immediate supply of irrigation water to save their standing paddy crops.

The protesters blocked the busy Anandapur-Bhadrak road near Banchho Chhak, halting traffic as they raised slogans highlighting the administrative apathy toward their agricultural plight.

Despite Banchho village being situated right along the Baitarani River and having the Baitarani canal running directly through it, local cultivators alleged that they have been unable to secure even “a drop of water” for their fields.

The ongoing water scarcity has hit the farmers at a critical juncture in the paddy cultivation cycle. With crops currently entering the vital grain-forming stage, prolonged moisture deficit has caused large stretches of farmland to develop deep cracks, threatening widespread crop failure.

“Downstream is the Baitarani River, while the Baitarani barrage lies upstream. But despite the canal being constructed as far back as 1985, not a single drop of water has reached our farmlands,” an agitating local farmer told reporters. "We have repeatedly approached the authorities over the years, but no one has paid heed to our plight."

A local people's representative shared the community's desperate self-reliance efforts, stating that official indifference forced them to take matters into their own hands.

“Two years ago, the irrigation department explicitly told us that water could not reach this area. In my capacity as sarpanch, I spent money from my own pocket to dig a seven-kilometre canal extending from Gosarapada to Panchasibinapur. However, we received no further support or follow-up from the local administration,” the representative stated.

Local leaders stressed that around 500 hectares of prime farmland in the area rely entirely on irrigation, while 90 to 92 per cent of the local panchayat's population depends directly on agriculture for their livelihood.

Demanding swift intervention, the farmers urged the district administration and the water resources department to immediately release canal water and deploy emergency measures to mitigate the severe drought-like situation before the entire season's harvest is destroyed.