AGRA: Farmers who went out to work in their fields on Monday morning were aghast to see their potato, wheat and mustard crops submerged in water. They claimed that the flooding was a result of overflowing Barara miner (sub irrigation channel).Crops of as many as 50 farmers from Khal, Malpura and Gamri villages in Akola development block of the district were damaged. They alleged that the overflow took place as the sub canal was not cleaned before discharge of water from its terminal at Jodhpur Jhal in Farah Gram pradhan of Gamri Vineet Kumar said, “We are making all possible efforts to drain the water out. An excavator has been called. Supply in the sub canal was made all of a sudden. This caused it to overflow.”Farmer leader Shyam Singh Chahar, who visited the affected villages, blamed the irrigation department for the crop damage. He alleged, “Before water supply, no cleaning of the canal took place. However, on paper everything is shown as done. Officials and contractors pocket a large part of the funds allocated by the state government for cleaning canals and sub canals.”Demanding compensation for farmers, Chahar said, “The matter of corruption in the irrigation department will be pursued with higher authorities. Throughout the day, farmers were busy in draining out water from their fields but no official came to check the situation.”Awadhesh Kumar, executive engineer of the irrigation department, said, “Water supply in the Barara miner has been stopped. Standard cleaning of the sub canal was conducted before supply. Overflow could have taken place due to less utilization of water by farmers.”

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