Pulwama, Sep 11: A mega lift irrigation scheme in Chakoora village of Litter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district is awaiting completion even as land donors are waiting for compensation.
Locals told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that after repeated pleas, a scheme was approved for the area.
“Soon, the work on the scheme was started but around a decade has passed but we are yet to witness any positive development in this regard,” said Shahid Ahmad, a local.
He said around 80 percent of the work was completed but it remains suspended for the past three years due to unknown reasons. “We don’t have any irrigation facilities available to our orchards due to which we are suffering in the summer season and have to rely on rainwater only,” he added.
According to locals, after the work on the scheme was started, many growers cut down their almond orchards which require less water and planted apple trees as they expected the scheme would provide them irrigation facilities but that did not happen.
Orchardists said they were earning livelihood from almonds but after planting apple trees, they are suffering due to the shortfall of rains. They said that due to the unavailability of irrigation, trees are drying up and production remains very low besides being less delicious and small in size.
“We provided land at a very low cost for the scheme and have not received even that compensation,” the orchardists said, adding that they have brought the issue to the notice of the concerned authorities several times but to no avail.
“In this heatwave, we need to irrigate our orchards but when such facilities are not available, we suffer,” they said.
They requested Deputy Commissioner Pulwama to look into the matter that concerns the livelihood of the people.
Meanwhile, an official said the scheme awaits completion due to some issues including the issue with land donors over compensation.
“Around 80 percent of the work on the scheme is complete and the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) worth around Rs 3.5 crore for the pending work and compensation component has been submitted to the higher-ups and we are waiting for its approval,” the official said, adding, “We hope the work on the project is restarted soon.”—(KNO)
