Parala Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati had excavated a 7-km-long canal between Ram Sagar and Sita Sagar in Paralakhemundi in 1930 to provide water irrigation facility to the farmers of Gajapati district.
Ram Sagar and Sita Sagar are the two water bodies situated in the eastern and western parts of Paralakhemundi respectively.
Farmers of more than 3,000 hectares farming land were provided water from the canal.
Gajapati District Farmers’ Association president Surya Narayan Patnaik alleged that the Miner Irrigation Department was not taking care of the canal for the last 25 years. As a result, the canal was lying in a shambles and unused, he added.
Some houses were also constructed near the canal. Some parts of the canal land were also encroached upon by the house owners, Patnaik said. The farmers are now depending on rain for farming, he lamented.
He also said for the scanty rail fall, the farmers of the district were facing many problems. This year also Paralakhemundi farmers faced problems due to scanty rainfall, he added.