The Jharkhand Nav Nirman Morcha, Palamu, has urged the Chief Engineer to install two gates in the Bheem barrage under Hussainabad sub-division which were washed away in the last week’s torrential rains, said the Morcha president Abhimanyu Singh alias Babloo Singh.
He said had the barrage personnel been active and alert this loss of losing two gates and continuous loss of water of this barrage which is now going into the river Sone would have been saved. Singh said in the wake of this wash out of two gates of this barrage left canal is dry and it is the left canal that irrigated nearly 1,000 hectares of land in villages coming under Kandi block.
Chief engineer M l Pingua confirmed the wash out of two gates in the flash flood last week adding the irrigation department has requisitioned one crane from West Bengal which is on way to reach this site of loss in this barrage and the crane is expected to be here this week end. He said tenders have been floated for the gates and this would be finalised in the shortest of time.
Babloo Singh’s charge that out of 40 gates installed in this Bheem barrage 25 are non operational. Pingua when asked just fumbled for word accepting very tongue in cheek that 21 or 22 gates of this barrage are really problematic as all gates here are manually operated upon.
Babloo Singh further alleged ten other gates of this barrage are non functional as its motor have removed to which also Pingua could not explain.
Bhim barrage is of North Koyal Irrigation Project which is commonly known as Mandal Dam which is in latehar district Barwadeeh block while this Bhim barrage is in Palamu’s Hussainabad sub-division. Singh told ‘The Pioneer’ on Thursday, “This barrage has two canals - right canal takes its water down to Bihar while the left canal takes the water to Jharkhand”.