Villagers restore the Katuria canal in Nalbari district

Mushalpur/Nalbari, March 4: Once known as hotbeds of insurgency, Baksa and Nalbari districts in lower Assam are currently witnessing a revolution that has perhaps never been seen in the state before.

Driven by the belief that self-help is the best help, the villagers have themselves developed irrigation facilities through diversion of natural streams and canals, thereby transforming their lives by means of creating livelihood opportunities.

Thanks to Jamsetji Tata Trust in Mumbai, 80 villages in the two districts could make an effort to improve their lives through “diversion-based irrigation system” instead of waiting for government funds to pour in.

The trust — an entity of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Allied Trusts — have joined hands with a local non-government organisation — Gramya Vikash Mancha — to ensure socio-economic uplift of these villages plagued by perennial water woes through effective use of diversion-based irrigation system.

A diversion-based irrigation system is one which diverts a portion of water from a natural stream or river and uses it for the purpose of irrigating crops and other uses. It involves diversion of run-off water in low rainfall areas by dredging canals, constructing check dams, bunds, sluice gates, for small-scale storage and subsequent use by marginal farmers.

“Because of acute shortage of water, sometimes it was difficult for us to go for a single cropping. But after we started work on this project under the guidance of Ghamya Vikash Mancha with financial help from the Tata Trust, we have water to irrigate our land and have even been able to target multi-cropping,” said Bangsidhar Das, a farmer of Arampur village.

Arampur, which is barely 7km from the Indo-Bhutan border in Baksa district, had witnessed Operation All Clear — launched to flush out Ulfa rebels from Bhutan in 2003.

The farmers of the village have successfully diverted a part of water flowing through Diring and Pagladiya rivers to their village by dredging canals and equitably distributed the water among them by constructing concrete bunds.

“They have also trained us in application of the system of rice intensification last year, as a result of which we are reaping good harvests,” said Suramoni Neopane, another resident of Arampur.

President of Ghamya Vikash Mancha Prithi Bhusan Deka said they had started the project in 2009 in 80 villages spread across five clusters in the two districts to provide irrigation facilities to farmers by regulating the flow of river waters. Pagladiya, Saulkhowa, Jaha, Barali and Diring are the five clusters.

He said they are also involved in restoration of water bodies, cleaning of canals and wetlands, capacity enhancement of farmers, creation of fisheries and other such livelihood opportunities.