SANGUEM
Less than a month before the normal date to release the agricultural water supply from the Selaulim Irrigation Project, farmers are left wondering if they will get water on time this year.
Farmers informed that the Water Resources Department (WRD) would normally issue tenders to clean the main canal and the sub-canal in October and would get the canals cleaned from dry waste and leakages by the end of November.
However this year, this has not happened and from the information gathered by farmers, the WRD is yet to issue tenders to clean work of the main canal and the sub-canal.
A farmer, Prashant Gauns Dessai, informed that he met an official of the WRD a few days ago and said he was told that tenders to clean the canals are still awaited as the file is not yet cleared.
Any delay in releasing water from the Selaulim Dam severely affects farmers at Sanguem, Quepem and some parts of Salcete taluka, as a majority of farmers in these talukas depend exclusively on Selaulim water to cultivate paddy and other plantations.
Moreover, with December's first week being the right time to undertake sowing operations, farmers depending on agricultural water supply from Selaulim Dam could complain of losses if there is any delay by WRD in releasing agricultural water supply. Besides, many of them undertake cultivation of a second crop in the same fields during monsoon.
Dessai also informed that if the tenders are released late, the contractors allotted with the work may haphazardly undertake the cleaning work, which could lead to wastage of water at several places due to leakages in canals.
Many farmers were surprised that the WRD did not follow the timely process in floating the tenders to clean the canals, despite this being an annual exercise.
