News: Gurugram’s major drains flood over 12,000 acres of agri land: Farmers-31-07-2021
GURUGRAM: More than 12,000 acres of agricultural land with standing crops in seven villages from Chandu Budhera to Makrola was flooded as three major stormwater drains of the city, including Badshapur drain, flushed out rainwater to farms. Villagers alleged crops were destroyed and water will remain in the fields till October, mainly due to blockage and lack of cleaning of Najafgarh drain on the Delhi side.
Rainwater from the city through the three main drains — Badshapur (natural), Leg-1 and Leg-2 (man-made) — is supposed to go via Najafgarh drain to the Yamuna. Though farmers have been demanding the construction of a bund near Najafgarh drain to prevent flooding for some time now, the tussle between Delhi and Haryana governments has become a major obstacle to any solutions to the problem. Villagers said the state government should either acquire their land or find some solution to waterlogging, as they can grow only one crop a year at present.
According to local farmers, over 12,000 acres in Dharampur, Momdheri, Daultabad, Kherki Majra, Dhankot, Chandu Budhera and Makrola villages remain flooded most of the year, preventing them from farming on it.
“The bund will help us carry out agriculture in the land. Delhi constructed a bund long back, which benefited farmers in the capital. The Haryana government, however, hasn’t taken any such steps. We have approached government officials and ministers, but no one has taken any cognizance,” a landowner from Dhankot said.
Prahalad Kataria, who has around 40 acres of agricultural land in Chandu Budhera, said rainwater from city areas floods their fields and destroys crops in the monsoon. “Many houses constructed on the fields also get flooded,” said Kataria, adding that they never get any compensation and all their presentations and letters to the government have failed to produce any results.
Ramesh Vashishta, another farmer, said they face the same problem every year. “Water remains in the fields till October and due to this, farmers can’t produce more than one crop in a year,” he added.
The three major drains fall under the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA). A senior GMDA official said the chief minister is aware of the matter. “We have cleaned the Najafgarh drain on our side, but it hasn’t been cleaned from the Delhi side,” said the official, adding that agricultural land in these villages is in low-lying areas and rainwater will naturally flow to such areas.
In 2016, the government had submitted a brief to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, committing to notify Najafgarh lake and the surrounding marshes — which lie on the Haryana-Delhi border, giving both states jurisdiction — as a wetland. The government was planning to notify 300 acres in Kherki Majra and Dhankot near the lake as a wetland.
