Man digs canal through mountain

BHUBANESWAR:The muddy stream of water that courses through the pebble and boulder-filled stretch of Gonasika mountain for three kilometres before reaching Talabaitarani village could only have been a pipe dream for people till 2013. But one man’s obsession and determination to get water to his farmlands proved that nothing is insurmountable.

Like Dasrath Majhi who moved mountains to build a road in Jharkhand, 75-year-old tribal man Daitari Nayak carved a 3-km canal through a mountain in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, helping irrigate 100 acres of land in his village.

Nayak, a farmer of Talabaitarani village in Banspal block of Kenojhar district, started digging through the Gonasika mountains in 2010 as erratic rains would repeatedly fail his crops. The only way he could get water to his barren lands was from a nearby stream from the mountains.

Armed with a hoe and a crowbar, Nayak started digging through the roads while villagers scoffed at his effort. But an undeterred Nayak carried on for a few months till he was joined by his four brothers. The villagers joined in only after the canal built by Nayak and his brothers with pebbles, mud and rocks neared their village.

The canal was finally completed in 2013 and has helped irrigate over 100 acres of land in the village, helping its residents grow paddy, maize and mustard as well as some vegetables.

“At his age he has shown determination and grit. The district administration would surely help Nayak and villagers to make the structure a concrete one. We are also planning a permanent check dam,” Keonjhar district collector Ashish Thakre said.

The district administration is also planning to felicitate Nayak for his efforts in bringing water to the village farms. Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik said CM Naveen Patnaik should learn from Nayak and address irrigation problems in the state.

Earlier this year, a tribal man in Odisha’s Kandhamal district shot into limelight after he built an 8km road through the mountains so that his three sons could travel to a nearby school.

Jalandhar Nayak, 45, had hammered his way through a mountain for two years as his sons found it tough to cross hills and reach their school.