Pak farmers not getting water after plugging Indira Gandhi canal leakage

Pakistani farmers in the border areas are facing a crop failure as India has choked their water supply. The Pakistani farmers were taking advantage from leakage in Indira Gandhi canal in Sriganganagar. However, now this ‘water supply’ has stopped after the project to plug the leak in 15km area (from Daulatpura of Sriganganagar) has been successfully completed. The government has recently conducted a test and claimed that the farmers of Pakistan, who were getting free water from India were no longer getting it.

The information has been sought from the irrigation department in Jodhpur about any leak in the canal which flows in the border area adjoining Jaisalmer. After the trial, the government has recently conducted a survey there. The farmers of that area told that for many decades, farmers from across the border were cultivating from our canal’s water. They were cultivating native cotton, American cotton, sugarcane, wheat and mustard.

The scheme was approved in 2004 for ensuring construction work of both Ganganagar and Indira Nahar but the work was stuck for security reasons. In the meantime, in 2015, the Pak Rangers demanded a ban on the construction work on the canal in the flag meeting. After this, the BSF gave the green signal to the project of the Ministry of Water Resources.

It is noteworthy that when there is excessive rain in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh, water flows through the river. Not only this, due to the leakage in the canal, a lot of water is leaked and crosses the border while the Indian farmers are deprived of their share.