Farmers from three villages in Odisha’s Rayagada district have taken matters into their own hands and repaired a damaged irrigation canal using their own funds after repeated appeals to the administration reportedly went unanswered.

The incident has been reported from Nimajhola village under Kalyansinghpur block of Rayagada district. Frustrated over the lack of response from authorities despite repeated requests, local farmers and residents decided to collectively mobilise resources to restore the canal, which serves as a crucial source of irrigation for their agricultural lands.

Farmers from Kuradi, Balipadar, and Nimajhola villages held a meeting and decided to contribute money from each household. With the funds collected, they purchased construction materials such as cement, sand, and stone chips. The villagers then voluntarily contributed their labour and carried out cleaning and repair work on the canal themselves.

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According to reports, more than 900 acres of agricultural land depend on this canal for irrigation. Villagers alleged that if the repair work had not been undertaken during the summer, water would not have reached farmlands in the upcoming monsoon, potentially leaving thousands of acres of cultivable land barren.

The villagers further claimed that despite submitting a written memorandum to the ITDA authorities seeking intervention, no concrete or permanent steps were taken to address the issue.

Meanwhile, Sub-Collector Ramesh Chandra Jena stated that the administration is aware of the situation and efforts are being made to put in place a proper mechanism to carry out the canal repair work.