No hope for farmers in Arkulabail

Thanks to a retaining wall which is under construction adjacent to the farm land.

Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the work on construction of retaining wall and the desilting of a canal from the residence of Valerian D’Souza’s to the residence of Vedavath, two residents of Arkulabail of Adyar Gram Panchayat was taken up at a cost of Rs 3.20 lakh.

About 120 metre retaining wall has been completed.

Villagers say that even on persistent requests, the authorities had not taken up the construction of the retaining wall, till Gram Panchayat Member Devadas Shetty started pressurizing for the same.

In 2010-11, 494 man days have been completed and Rs 85,600 have been given as wages. A sum of Rs 33,002 was spent on the materials required for the retaining wall.

In 2011-12, 324 man days have been completed and wages of Rs 45,500 have been paid. A sum of Rs 29,016 was spent on the materials for the construction of retaining wall. The work will be completed at the earliest, said Panchayat Development Officer Rajanna to Deccan Herald.

“We used to cultivate three times in a year till the NH four laning work was taken up. However, after the road work we were left in lurch because clay dumped to raise the road and led to stagnation of water in fields. We were finding it difficult to cultivate even once,”said Gram Panchayat member Devadas Shetty heaving a sigh of relief as he declares that with the construction of retaining wall, he and many other farmers have started cultivating their fields thrice again.

“Along with the retaining wall, mud road has also been developed. Earlier, we did not have proper road to reach our homes. Now, we have well laid roads,” said Yogini, a farmer.

“We have lot of problems in the gram panchayat limits. All the members will work unitedly without politicising any issue. We want to make our Gram Panchayat a model village,” said Gram Panchayat member Ashok Kottary.