Keonjhar, July 29: Yesterday, Hundreds of paddy crops in several villages were filled with sand and mud after a breach in the right canal of Kanajhari dam at about 11 am in the Sadar block area of the district leaving farmers in distraught. As result, water from the dam entered the paddy fields in Maidanakela, Raghunathpur and Kantiapada panchayats leaving thousands of farmers of these panchayats who had completed the plantation of paddy saplings in their field in despair.
This medium irrigation project was built to facilitate continuous irrigation facilities on a regular basis in Keonjhar Sadar and Patana blocks. Recently, the repair and widening work of the dam was taken up with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) but the locals brought to the notice of the district administration, the poor quality of the work. Additional district collector Sangram Keshari Swain informed that the work execution of the repair and widening of the canal was undertaken in the supervision of the executive engineer, ADB, Kamakhyanagar Irrigation Division.
He also added that the Deputy Director, Agriculture would be asked to make an assessment of the crop loss and submit a report based on which a notice would be sent to the executive engineer, Irrigation.
