After 26-yr wait, UP farmers rebuild dam on their own with just Rs 70,000

BAREILLY: After a dam built during the British period was damaged in 1990, farmers of over 25 villages in UP's Baheri have been facing irrigation related problems. However, after waiting for the government to do something about it, the farmers came together and collected Rs 70,000, while a few other villagers contributed in kind. They started constructing a 'kutcha' dam on Monday with mud and sand bags, 98 feet long and 20 feet wide. The dam will be ready by Friday.

Chief development officer (CDO) SS Awasthi said, “From the British period to 1990, the district administration used to construct a kutcha dam here every rabi season. This dam used to be damaged every year during the monsoon and was remade just before winter. However, the dam construction was stopped here after 1990 due to increased input cost. We had sent a proposal to the state government in 2014 for constructing a 'pucca' dam here but it is still pending.“

He added, “The villagers have informed us that they are constructing a dam with at Tehra village and also start the same work at neighbouring Khamariya village.I will inspect the dam soon."

The CDO said that the district administration will again take up the matterr.

“The quality of crops de teriorated as we failed to provide adequate water. We made several requests to the administration and politicians but our pleas fell on deaf ears,“ said Rampal Singh, a farmer at Tehra village.

However, things changed when ex-MLA, Jaideep Singh Barar, persuaded villagers to construct a dam. A few villagers contributed in cash while others helped in kind. The villagers managed to store water here on Thursday . “When we had met officials earlier, they had told us that we would not be able to make a dam on our own. But we proved them wrong," said Barar.