"There's no use of fields without water. Indrawati river has almost dried up," he shared his plight, while ploughing his land situated on the bank of Indrawati River.
52-year-old farmer said that he could not cultivate paddy crops in the upper fields on time due to the lack of irrigation water. "I have no alternatives than depending on labor works these days," he lamented. His family's livelihood largely depend on agriculture but now future of the family looks bleak as there solution of irrigation facility is not in sight.
Danuwar's plight is just a representative case. Farmers from Bhimtar, Sangachowk, Phatakshila and Bansbari VDCs in Sindhupalchowk district and Gairibisauna, Deupur, Mahadevsthan and Chandeni VDCs in Kavre, who depend heavily on the Indrawati for irrigation, have worried about their livelihood following the rampant mining of the aggregates from the river. The excessive mining of the river has lowered the river bed, as this has made it more difficult to irrigate their farmland.
"Earlier riverbed was above and it was easier to irrigate the river water into our farmland. Our farms would get filled with water," Danuwar recalled. Now the river bed has lowered due to unabated mining and they cannot irrigate water into the farmland.
Last year, he had to pull water into his farm with the help of water pump at the cost of Rs 250 per hour, however it could not help in better production of paddy, said he.
It is learnt that crusher plants started extracting sand and stone from the Indrawati River nearly one and a half decades ago. The uncontrolled extraction of aggregates from the river has not only led to further deterioration in the river´s natural beauty but dry of river, taking huge toll on farmers.
Another farmer, Sano Kanchha Danuwar, said that there is no enough supply of water for irrigation due to haphazard extraction of stones and sand from the river beds.
Altogether six crusher enterprises from Sindhupalchowk and Kavre districts are operating on the Indrawati River. Among them, five crusher plants are from Sindhupalchowk district, and one plant from Kavre.
Troubled by excessive mining, affected farmers had repeatedly made complaints to the crusher factories until they granted them with water pumps last year.
The farmers of Sindhupalchowk and Kavre districts have been troubled due to the local administration's apathy, they alleged as they have failed to bring the crusher plants under the government regulation.
Sano Kanchha said that the owners of the crusher plants had earlier promised to level the river in such a way that would help prevent floods in the farm land during monsoon. However, they seem to have forgotten their promises as they are busy doing their business only, he added.
The crusher plants operating on the Indrawati River are yet to follow rules and standards despite the farmers' several warnings. Local stakeholders alleged that local administration has not given clear instructions to curb the rampant mining. Had the authorities provided clear instructions and monitored properly, the crusher plants could have followed the minimum standards, they added.
The government's guidelines prevent mining of the aggregates from the areas maintaining at least 20 KM far from the irrigation canal and the river.
Meanwhile, Shambu Phuyal, vice-president of Mahadevsthan Indrawati Environment Conservation Concerning Committee, alleged that both the District Development Commitees and crusher factories have become helpless to the farmers' plights. "Such an unabated mining is taking a heavy toll on farmers every year," he added.
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