Some farmers of Changrey in Trongsa say a tunnel constructed in their village by the Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority (MHPA) some four years ago is affecting their rice yield.
They say wastewater from the tunnel enters the village’s irrigation channel and ends up in their paddy fields.
Some seven households are said to have been affected so far.
“The water from the tunnel hardens the soil, making it hard to plough through and transplant paddy. I think the smell also affects our crop,” Dophum, one of the affected farmers, said.
“Our fields are now filled with sand. At a glance, it looks like all is well but a closer look shows the real impacts,” Kuenzang, another farmer said.
“It’s been almost four years now since we reported the issue to the concerned authorities but nothing has been done till date,” he added.
The Tshogpa of Kuenga Rapten, Loday, said a wall would prevent the wastewater from the tunnel from flowing into the irrigation channel.
“It has to be built at the earliest or more damage would be caused,” he said.
The dzongkhag administration and the project authority are aware of the issue. They say the affected households would be compensated soon.
“We took up the matter with the project management and they’ve agreed to provide compensation to the affected farmers,” Karma Chewang, the Deputy Chief District Agriculture Officer, said.
A wall would be also constructed once the monsoon is over.
“We could not deploy machinery to construct the wall earlier as paddy transplantation was going on,” Mukesh Sharma, a Civil Engineer with the MHPA’s Gammon Construction Company, said.
“But now as soon as the monsoon ends, we will construct the wall and this should solve the problem.”
The irrigation channel of Changrey village irrigates hundreds of acres of rice fields.
