Banana growers in despair owing to lack of water in the Bhima

Farmers are not in a position to even clear the withered crop to take up kharif cultivation

The drying up of the Bhima owing to deficient monsoon and non-release of water by Maharashtra from their barrages upstream have resulted in the withering of banana crop on more than 70 acres of land on the banks of the Bhima in Jewargi taluk of Kalaburagi district.

Farmers, who had taken up cultivation of banana expecting good returns because of the lucrative prices of banana in the market, are now left in the lurch.

With the monsoon fast approaching, the farmers, who had cultivated banana, are not in a position to even clear the withered and dry banana crop to take up kharif cultivation.

A visit to the affected villages like Kolkur on the banks of the Bhima speaks volumes about the misery being faced by the farmers. They had used the flowing water in the Bhima to irrigate the crop by pumping water through irrigation pumpsets.

Usually there would be a little water flowing in the Bhima even during April and that was enough to help the farmers irrigate their banana crop.

However, with acute shortage of drinking water in the district, the district administration had directed the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM) to disconnect power supply to irrigation pumpsets on the banks of the Bhima to meet the drinking water requirement in the villages and towns along the river.

The disconnection of the power connections in the first week of March has had a disastrous impact on the standing banana crop.

“If the authorities had allowed us to pump water for another 45 days, then things would have been different and we could have saved the crop,” said Siddanna Adin, who has taken up banana cultivation on his four acres of land.

Kolkur Gram Panchayat member Basaiah, who has also taken up banana cultivation on five acres of land on the banks of the Bhima, said that the farmers had no money even to clear the withered crop.

Adding to the woes of the farmers was the fact that the officials of the Horticulture Department were yet to complete the assessment of the loss incurred by the farmers to help them get compensation from the government.

Ajay Singh, MLA for Jewargi, said that the tahsildar of Jewargi has been directed to complete the assessment process at the earliest.

He said so 50 per cent of the area in Jewargi taluk in the district has been assessed and the remaining would be assessed in a week.

Mallappa Pujari, a farmer, said that the farmers would be left with no option but to commit suicide if there was any further delay in the release of compensation.

The disconnection of power supply

to pumpsets in

March has had a disastrous impact