Nischintakoili, 1st Aug 2025: Agricultural activities in the Nischintakoili block have come to a complete standstill due to severe water scarcity. To ensure irrigation to farmlands in the area, the Department of Water Resources had undertaken cleaning work of the main Canal No. 8, along with its branch and sub-branch canals. Alongside this, concrete lining (called “dhalai lining”) work is also ongoing in the canals.
However, since neither the lining nor the cleaning work has been completed yet, water is not reaching the canals. To make matters worse, nature has turned uncooperative, with the region facing a severe rainfall deficit.
As a result, farmers are unable to transplant kharif paddy saplings into their fields. Many low-lying paddy nurseries (known as tali ghera), where young saplings are grown before transplanting, have dried up and cracked due to lack of water. Because there is no water available for transplanting, farmers are unable to either plough their fields or prepare the land.
Adding to the crisis, the canal cleaning and lining work should ideally have been done during the dry season. Instead, it is being undertaken during the monsoon, leading to delays in water reaching the fields just when it’s most needed for transplantation.
In the Nischintakoili area, farming has been completely paralyzed due to the ongoing water shortage. Farmers are growing increasingly worried. While canals in Kendrapara district have started receiving water, Canal No. 8 and its associated branches in this region are yet to receive any supply.
Farmers now wait in uncertainty, unsure when agricultural work will resume, and whether they will be able to save the kharif season crop at all.
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