The Logical Indian Crew

Odisha: 300 Migrants Dig Canal Through Hills To Bring Water To Lands

It took them over a month to dig the canal from the nearby stream, despite the lack of essential equipment and working from dawn to dusk and sometimes beyond that.

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Over 300 migrants in two Maoist affected blocks in Kandhamal district of Odisha dug nearly an 8-kilometre-long canal to bring water from hilly terrains to their farmlands, reported The Hindustan Times.

The two blocks, Kotgarh and Daringbadi in Kandhamal district have less irrigation in comparison to the other districts' areas. As many as 15,000 migrant workers had returned amid the ongoing pandemic that made the survival of the village people arduous, leaving them thinking about an uncertain future.

Post monsoon, the area did not receive water, other than a stream flowing through a hill. The village was in need of a canal, assuring a continuous water flow.

That is when a local NGO Kandhamal Zilla Sabuja Baidya Sangathan came in and encouraged the natives of Guhibadi and Ranipanga village to pull out all the stops to irrigate their farmlands, and proposed digging up a 750-metre long canal.

The migrants would gather in the morning and work up till late evening, digging a canal from the nearby stream, despite the lack of essential equipment like excavators, loaders, liners or explosives and took over a month.

"As there was no explosive to smash the huge boulders, we would heat up the boulders for the entire night by lighting fires then let it cool in the morning by dew. The stress caused in the rocks by the expansion and contraction made it easy for us to break them with shovels," the media quoted the village sarpanch, Johan Pradhan.

Secretary of the NGO Dinabandhu Maharana told the media the whole process did not spend a single government rupee. The organization also provided people working on the project with food and clothes.

Following the development, block officer Abhimanyu Behera said the administration would pitch the government to make the canal a concrete structure.

Also Read: Jammu & Kashmir Extends Ban On High-Speed Internet Until August 19

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Writer : Devyani Madaik
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Editor : Shubhendu Deshmukh
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