Farmers organise mahapanchayat in CM’s constituency, seek canal water for 60 villages

The farmers have also formed a body — Nehri Pani Prapti Sangrash Committee — to press for their demands. Raminder Singh Patiala from BKU Dakaunda and a member of SKM said, “Out of the 153 zones of Punjab, nearly 117 are dark or exploited zones and hence we need to act seriously. Two canals — Kotla branch and Bathinda branch — pass through these constituencies, hence the state government should lay pipes from these canals or should construct water channels to bring water to the 60 villages which can soon become a cause of concern if their water problem is not addressed soon.”

Major Singh Punnawal from Kul Hind Kisan Morcha added, “The Centre has given a large share of water under riparian laws to neighbouring states. It is high time that Punjab gets serious in utilising water from rivers flowing in its own state else the groundwater will dry and the state will turn into a desert sooner than later.”

Bhupinder Singh added, “As per the Central Ground Water Board, groundwater exploitation is a cause of concern for Punjab and this is a issue in the CM’s own constituency as well. So, if it is not solved here, what can we expect of other areas? After the mahapanchayat, we were supposed to march towards the CM ‘s office in Dhuri but authorities reached the spot and fixed our meeting with the CM for March 13.

Earlier they told us to meet the minister looking after the canals but we stressed that we wanted to meet the CM…we have all the right to meet the MLA of the constituency whether the person is the CM or not.”

Farmers stated that they have been highlighting this issue for long now. Despite the fact that farmers have been complaining of exploited groundwater zones in these villages, they are still growing paddy in several areas along with wheat, vegetables as well that require lots of water.