Delay forces farmers to start building weir on their own

Rajkot: In a massive show of strength, close to 5,000 farmers from 20 villages of Mahuva and Talaja talukas of Bhavnagar district congregated in the coastal village Methda and began construction of a weir to stop salinity ingress into their fields.
Farmers reached there with tractors, earthmovers, pickaxes, spades and other digging equipment and started the construction, which they have been demanding for the last two decades. They said they were forced to take up the work as government after government have only made promises and not built the weir. As a result, the seawater has gushed quite deep into their land and adversely affected their soil and crops.

The farmers divided their roles and work area of constructing the 10 km long weir. “Some have arranged for food, while others are responsible for bringing tea and water. Everybody from these 20 villages are playing some or the other role in this work,” a farmers’ leader Bhart Bhil said.

Bhil said, “We don’t want to depend on government any more. Every election, candidates of the both the parties asked us to vote by promising to build the weir. But nothing has happened till date. The reason is some people with vested interest don’t want us to cultivate and see that our land becomes infertile as they want to do mining for a cement company.”

Farmers claim that the salinity has progressed 35 km from the coast inside and rendered the groundwater also unfit for drinking.

When contacted, executive engineer, Narmada water resources and Kalapsar department, K A Parmar, said, “It was in March that the state government approved Rs 80 crore budget for this project. Acquiring land was major issue as some locals were not willing to give their land. We need a major portion of forest land and as a rule we need to replace the same quantum of land. This process is ongoing. Once the Central Design Organization in Gandhinagar gives us final design, we will start the tendering process.”

The construction being carried out by villagers is only temporary and won’t be able to face heavy rainfall or even high tide, said Parmar adding that the government will make a much stronger structure.

Talaja Congress MLA Kanu Barasia blamed the government’s for dragging its feet on this project. “If the government has approved the budget, as an MLA it would be my duty to see the work starts expeditiously,” he added.