MINGORA: The farmers and growers of Fatehpur have demanded of the authorities to restore supply of irrigation water to their area.

They said that supply of water through the main irrigation channel to their area was stopped during construction of a road that turned their agricultural lands barren.

The farmers said that a portion of the irrigation channel was also unpaved that caused wastage of water. They said that the main source of income of most of the residents of Fatehpur was agriculture.

They said that the network of irrigation channels in the area was unpaved while the main irrigation channel was disconnected by National Highway Authority during construction of the road.

“Supply of water to our main irrigation channel was stopped when NHA was constructing the road due to which the entire agricultural land in Bachaabad village became barren,” said Liaqat Ali, a local farmer. He said that disconnection of water supply had affected not only the agricultural land but also many peach orchards. About 500 households in the area were affected by it, he added.

“Our people are farmers, who are mainly dependent on agricultural land for livelihood. Now they face multiple issues due to lack of irrigation water,” said Ikramullah, a social activist in Bachaabad.

He said that the rest of the network of irrigation channel was also in bad condition because it was not concreted and always filled up by the gravel and debris during torrential rains.

The residents demanded of the irrigation department to repair the irrigation channel so that they could restore their agricultural activities.

The executive engineer of irrigation department, Waseem Malik, when contacted, said that the farmers should send an application to the irrigation department for reconstruction of the channel.

“They should send us an application for the restoration of the irrigation channel and the department will prepare special PC-1 for its reconstruction,” he said.

He said that the department was working to improve irrigation channels and the unpaved channels of the area would also be improved.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2020