Irked by the closure of the minor irrigation canal of Ganga near Deoband, angry farmers from western Uttar Pradesh got the water gates of the canal opened on
Thursday after taking two officials hostage. The farmers are facing drought like situation after closing of Asafnagar canal in Roorkee since April 20 when the supply of waters was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department officials.
On getting information that the angry farmers had captured two officials of UP irrigation department, the district administration and police team rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
Around 60 km long Asafnagar-Deoband irrigation canal with 480 cusecs of water capacity was closed on account of scarcity of water and release of water in the main ganga canal.
As per the officials of the irrigation department, as many as 60 to 70 farmers from Deoband region of district Saharanpur reached Asafnagar canal and pressed the officials to open it forcefully.
Sub divisional officer of UP irrigation department also reached the spot but he was taken hostage by the farmers.
Speaking to The Pioneer, SDO of Uttar Pradesh irrigation department R C Pandey said, “The irrigation canal was closed since April 20. Farmers were facing difficulty since they did not get water for irrigating their crops. There is not enough water in Upper Ganga canal so we closed the gates. But farmers did not understand our problems and pressed us to open the canal.”
Sub district magistrate of Roorkee Gopal Singh reached the spot along with the cops and a mutual agreement was reached between the farmers and the officials to open the canal for a week.