It is said that 8500 hectares of land is being irrigated by the Lanjigarh Ret Medium Irrigation Project, but the marginal people of Narla and Lanjigarh blocks are dying of drought with water under their noses. They gave land and space to the Ret displaced people, but they are not even able to get water for their own cultivation. Even though the farmers have been demanding, complaining and protesting for water from the Ret Canal for the past fifteen years, they have not been successful till date. While the farmers are getting frustrated with this, today the farmers have come together in a meeting.
They have urged that the drought-stricken areas need water for irrigation. BJP Scheduled Tribes Morcha Vice President Ramesh Chandra Majhi attended the meeting organized by the Kisan Vikas Manch as a guest and expressed his strong support for the farmers’ demands. More than two hundred farmers from villages like Kadam, Sapduhuni, Nagjhari, Tentulipadar, Dhrukuti, Kucheiyor in Narla block and Gopalpur, Bhaluchanchara, Patvaler, Madhupur, Ramachandrapur, Panimunda, Govardhanpur, Keshapala in Lanjigarh block participated in the meeting chaired by senior farmer Magshir Gowda.
The meeting focused on organizing farmers in villages for the expansion of the sand right canal, including all the excluded villages in the survey, and canceling the previous flawed survey. On this occasion, farmer leaders Tankadhar Meher, Rudra Prasad Sahu, former Sarpanch Surendra Majhi, Tapan Majhi, Ashok Padhi, Purushottam Putel, Shobhavan Chhatar, Biren Padhi, Balaram Gowda, Managobinda Trikaya, Sanjay Padhi, Madhav Majhi, Mohan Putel, Parvathy Ranjan Behera, Nilesh Padhi, Bada Dharapur Sarpanch Parsuram Harpal, Samiti Sabha representative Vijay Harpal, BJP leader Tofan Sunani addressed the prominent farmers present. Journalist and social worker Sushil Kumar Bagh proposed a vote of thanks for organizing the meeting. Similarly, farmers from Kucheiyoor village including Ugrasen Bhati, Satya Keshan Bhati, Balaram Gowda, Madhusudan Bhati, Bighne Majhi, Sitakant Gowda, Kalakanhu Indekia, Gurubaru Gowda collaborated in organizing the program.
