Lack of irrigation facilities hits paddy crop in Sopore villages

Sopore, June 12: Unavailability of irrigation facilities is badly affecting paddy crop in several villages of Sopore in north Kashmir.

The affected people said the paddy saplings planted on hundreds of kanals of land are drying up due to defunct lift irrigation schemes and pumps. This is affecting thousands of families.

The residents of Gund Brath, Saidpora, Shangar Gund and other adjacent villages are unable to irrigate their paddy fields due to unavailability of water flowing through Zaingeer canal.

According to residents of Gund Brath, they had planted paddy saplings in their fields but after weeks the level of water in Zaingeer canal decreased. They alleged that the concerned department is not serious about resolving the problem.

“The situation is leading towards drought and we might face starvation,” locals said. They said that the situation is affecting the residents badly as their only source of income and livelihood is the agriculture land.

“We are unable to grow other crops in our fields as we are completely dependent on agriculture, especially rice. The authorities must give first importance to this issue to save our livelihood and to save us from starvationm” a resident said.

According to residents, the Zaingeer irrigation canal and other nearby canals mostly remain dry during the peak season.

“We faced the same situation last year but the Irrigation department did not come to our rescue,” Azad Ahmad Mir, a resident said.

“These fields must be full of water at this time of the year, but are drying.”

Now the farmers of these affected areas of Zaingeer appealed to ADC Sopore and officials of the irrigation department to irrigate paddy fields soon, so that farmers will not suffer.