Tral residents aghast over non availability of irrigation facility
Pulwama: The residents of Pinglish area of Tral are up in arms against the irrigation department for failing to commission stage third of mega Tral lift irrigation scheme.
Locals from Pinglish, Koil and Shikargah said that there is no water available for watering their orchards due to which their orchards have dried up.
They said that Checkoot lift irrigation scheme which was started in 1982 for Tral area has been left midway.
“The first two phases have been completed already while as work on the third phase is yet to be completed,” the locals alleged.
“We have been informing authorities since last many years now to take measures to complete the project and we were assured that scheme will be completed till ending April but they have failed to do so,” they said.
“Earlier this year, the then district magistrate visited the spot and assured the locals that third stage will be commissioned on May 01 but now even June is about to be over, but authorities have failed to complete it,” Abdul Aziz, a local resident said.
He added that the orchards are drying up as there is no water facility available for them.
The locals once again requested the concerned authorities to look into the matter at an earliest and complete the scheme as soon as possible so that locals can heave a sigh of relief
Pertinently, the Checkoot lift irrigation scheme is a three-staged lift irrigation project and it is being implemented at a cost of 170.50 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) having an irrigation potential of 4,818 hectares.
Stage I and Stage II (partly) of the scheme have already been commissioned and work on stage 3rd is yet to be completed.
Jahangeer Ganaie
