MARGAO: The 10 farmers from Cavorim who got water through the Paroda canal nearly a month after it was released are further stressed as there is no water in the canal since last Sunday due to breach in the canal embankment at Paroda.
The main sluice gate has been shut to enable the department to repair the breach and also replace the valves that were damaged which had to be firmed up with concrete. The canal gate was blocked on Sunday and since then there is no water in the canal and the fields have turned dry.
Farmers from Donemoll who had just sown the seeds for transplantation as water was coming in the canal have to now see their shoots drying and wilting away while the water resources department officials merely shrug their shoulders.
Engineer Rmaesh Sawant however clarified that the water was released on Friday morning and should reach Chandor by evening as it has to flow a distance of around seven kilometers. But that does not give any relief to the farmers.
“As my crop is wilting I have decided not to cultivate half the paddy fields I used to as it will not be possible to do it now and then again I shall have problems at the time of harvesting,” said John Douglas Coutinho one of the farmers cultivating large tracts of fields in the village.
Daniel another farmer was contemplating getting a water tanker to irrigate his field as the grain sown was drying.
“I understand that there was a problem, but we could not do anything as the canal had to be repaired,” Engineer Sawant said.
