200 Member Rajasthan Assembly will go to polls on November 25!
With a week to go for the rajasthan assembly polls, farmers in Sri Ganganagar feel that the uneven distribution of water via the ganga canal is one of the most important issues that will impact the voting process in the desert state. Alleging that the congress government in rajasthan and the aam aadmi party (AAP) regime in punjab are indulging in a blame game over the issue, the farmers accused political leaders of depriving them of their share of water and charged that the flow of water from the punjab water resources department is diverted towards Pakistan.
“The canal system that we have was introduced in 1927 and it was considered to be one of the first canals in the world to distribute water. As regimes kept changing, the ganga canal was reconstructed and a lot of corruption happened there. When the canal was constructed by Maharaja ganga Singh here, the water distribution was equal for both states but now, it has become uneven,” ranjeet Singh Raju of the Gramin Kisan Majdoor Samiti, rajasthan told. Raju said the farmers of Ganganagar and adjoining areas have been facing a problem due to a shortage of irrigation water and that the existing supply is full of harmful chemicals.
“There is corruption in the process of releasing water from Punjab. This is something that is not being monitored. The canal is also being closed from time to time and there is a major trouble in the water supply for the farmers here. We demand that the governments should monitor and ensure even distribution to all states,” he said. In September, more than 10,000 farmers from Ganganagar held protests demanding the release of their share of water. The protesting farmers had blocked the main highway for three days, gheraoed the district collector’s office for three more days and also blocked five entries to Ganaganagar city.
As campaigning for the november 25 assembly polls is underway in full swing, the congress, bharatiya janata party (BJP) and independent candidates from Ganganagar have assured the farmers that their problem of water share via the ganga canal will be taken care of. Vikramjeet Singh, a farmer, said farmers are supposed to receive 2,500 cusecs of water a day from the ganga canal and demanded that the next government in the state should resolve the issue.