Bhandara giving nightmares to Uguem farmers

Bhandara giving nightmares to Uguem farmers
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
SANGUEM, JAN 23
Agriculturists from Uguem have bitterly complained of the side walls of the river bank at Uguem getting eroded continuously due to construction of ‘bhandara’.
Though ‘bhandaras’ are constructed to store water for the benefit of farmers to cultivate their agricultural lands, the ‘bhandara’ constructed on the lower side of the Uguem bridge has become a matter of concern for some farmers.
“Due to the storage of water, the soil on both sides of the river has become loose leading to destruction of river bank and adjoining land on both sides of the river considerably,” complained a farmer.
One of the affected agriculturists, Minguelinho D’Costa, informed that due to destruction of river bank, a portion of his agricultural land has been washed away causing damages to his agricultural plantation and land.
D’Costa complained of a stretch of about 50 mtrs of his land by the side of the river to have washed away. More damages are likely to come forth and D’Costa fears of major portion of his prime agricultural land getting washed away due to the storage of water in the ‘bhandara’ if no preventive steps are taken at the earliest.
D’Costa opined for an urgent need for the construction of the river bank with concrete.
“The portion of land on both sides of the river extending to a stretch of about 100 mtrs needs to be constructed to avoid further damage being caused to the farmers,” claimed D’Costa.
“Despite several oral requests for compensation and construction of the retaining wall, the department has not paid any heed to the agriculturists request,” complained D’Costa and urged the Irrigation Department to undertake the task of the construction of the retaining wall on either side of the ‘bhandara’ on priority basis.