Farmers denied irrigation water after project “abandoned”

By Steffi Soibam

IMPHAL | July 31

One of the biggest lift irrigation projects in Northeast the Loktak Lift Irrigation Project located in Bishnupur district and Imphal West district stands defunct since 1990 due to state government’s negligence.

The project was launched in 1972-73 after it was approved by Planning Commission in 1972 with an estimated cost of Rs. 462 lakhs.

It consists of three pump houses and five canal systems.

According to a source, the proposed net irrigation area of the project is 24,000 hectares which was commissioned in 1979 by the then Union minister Bhanu Pratap Singh along with Y. Yaima Singh, the then state irrigation minister at pump house number one Ningthoukhong.

The canals are Imphal Main Canal, Imphal Low level Canal, Imphal High Level Canal, Moirang High Level Canal and Moirang Low Level Canal and the pump number one and three are located at Ningthoukhong and number two at Bishnupur.

But pump number two and three have not been commissioned till today.

When the project was commissioned irrigation water was supplied to the paddy fields from Ningthoukhong to Hiyangthang and also from Ningthoukhong to Kumbi areas both for kharif or rabi and double or triple cropping.

All the farmers in these areas benefitted till the year 1990.

In an exclusive interview to IFP, a former executive engineer who doesn’t want to be named disclosed that the project has been totally defunct after 1990. “Since the Loktak Lift Irrigation Project has been in total limbo for the last 27 years, many farmers have not been able to benefit in terms of double or triple cropping,” he said.

Those hectares of land were acquired forcibly by the government at low rates compared to the local market rates.

Recalling the launch of the project, the former engineer said, “I remember many farmers were literally weeping when we had to destroy ripen standing crops in the name of the irrigation programme. We had to assure them of the benefits and regained their confidence.”

“However, our assurance has not been fulfilled except for a decade or so since the launch of LLI project,” he stated.

According to him, the canal bed silted continuously due to local rivers and theft of super passage pipes. The canals were used for other purposes by unknown local persons.

The project was abandoned by the state government and left unchecked since then. No comprehensive benefits have given to farmers till date, he alleged.

If the project is revived and implemented properly it will benefit Assembly constituencies of Kumbi, Moirang, Bishnupur, Oinam, Nambol, Konthoujam, Wangoi, Naoriya, Lamsang and Patsoi, he said.