Panki (Palamau), May 14: The rusty and abandoned structure stands tall across the dry Amanat river at Chandrapur in Palamau's Panki block as a reminder of administrative negligence, the proposed irrigation project having betrayed hundreds of once prosperous farmers marginalised for three decades.
A lot happened over the last 33 years - Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, several governments had come and gone, but the fate of Amanat barrage remained same as that of the " sukha (dry) and bhukha (hungry) Palamau".
Hundreds of farmers who had given their land for the irrigation project neither got water in their fields nor food on their plates.
The barrage across river Amanat was part of Auranga Reservoir Project, sanctioned by Planning Commission in 1983 in undivided Bihar. River Auranga flows through Latehar and Palamau. The idea was to convert Amanat (a monsoon river) into a canal to irrigate parts of Palamau and Gaya district of Bihar.
River Auranga water was to be diverted first to Kakargadh canal, where a hydro power station was planned, and then to Amanat where the barrage and a chain of channels were to be built for irrigation purposes in Panki and Manatu blocks of Palamau. Most of the water, however, was to be diverted to Gaya.
The barrage project, which could have irrigated 25,000 hectares of land, was revived and a foundation stone laid in 2002 by then chief minister Babulal Marandi. A total of Rs 34,111 lakh was sanctioned and the project was scheduled to be completed by 2013-14.
For Akhilesh Singh (62) of Kahuakhar village, a prosperous farmer 33 years ago, now left with only 5 cottah of parched land, the Panki bypoll is all about false assurances.
Last week, Akhilesh, who now makes a living by weaving cots with wife Nanho Devi after losing 30 acres of his family land to the barrage, denied an offer of a paltry sum to campaign for one of the many political parties in the fray.
"We are happy to be poor and famished instead of accepting money from you. This will not change our life," he told the man , pointing to the river Amanat and a series of dilapidated houses.
Akhilesh is anguished because the government had paid him a pittance as compensation. "Hundreds of farmers gave their land in the hope of getting irrigation facilities but water never flowed. The government had promised jobs too but we never got one," he said.
The dilapidated houses, he said, were constructed in 1985 as a staff colony for the project.
"Now these are home to stray animals and anti-social elements. This colony has come up over 5-acre of our land," he said.
The project, though abandoned, continued to be on the government files, said Shivnandan Ojha of Loharsi who had filed many querries under RTIs. "In government records, Rs 24,355 lakh was spent till 2011. But the groundwork doesn't suggest so," Ojha said.
Village elders say the project got sandwiched between Bihar and Jharkhand governments and now people were taking away bricks from the canal. "The project could have recharged the water table of Palamau. If Jharkhand government doesn't want to share water with Bihar it is free. Either scrap it and return the land to farmers or complete it," said Ramadhar Ojha, another farmer.
The older generation is neither happy with BJP MP B.D. Ram nor thinks highly of four-time Panki MLA of the Congress, the late Bidesh Singh, whose son Devendra Kumar Singh, is in the fray. "Ram raised the issue in the Parliament last year and thought his responsibility was over," they ridiculed.
Government records mentioned problems in transferring 127.85 hectare of forest land and clearance as bottlenecks. The process of identification of additional land for afforestation has, however, been initiated.
But, will things change? Mangal Kumar, a poet of Loharsi, sums it up: " Aise hi aatey rahiye, kagaz kala karte rahiye. Kuch bhi na badlega (keep coming, keep writing, nothing will change)."
