Mahendranagar, May 19: Irrigation facilities have been provided to only 16,000 hectares of the total 59,500 hectares of arable land in Kanchanpur district while the remaining are dependent on rain water.

Irrigation facility available in the district has so far been provided at the initiative of the Mahakali Irrigation Project, District Irrigation Office and Kanchanpur District Development Committee.

Meanwhile, the District Irrigation Office, Kanchanpur has been running three projects—Siddhanath Irrigation Project, Tilachauda, Baijanath Irrigation Project, Daiji and Chunepani Musepanui Irrigation Project. So far 75 percent of the projects have already been completed. These projects on completion is said to provide irrigation facilities to an additional 223 hectares of land in the district.

These projects were to be completed within this fiscal year but delay in arrival of the remaining amount of budget from the central level has postponed the date of completion, says Mahendra Bahadur Gurung, Division Engineer at District Irrigation Officer, Kanchanpur.

Besides this, the Krishnapur Irrigation Project is also under construction and is expected to be completed next fiscal year. This project will provide irrigation facility to 150 hectares of arable land.

It has been learnt that the District Irrigation Office has also proposed to the central level for additional five irrigation projects for the fiscal year 2002/2003.

Apart from reaching irrigation facilities to different parts of the district, the District Irrigation Office has also been carrying out programs for river control. The office has been since the previous fiscal year running five ‘river control’ projects in different rivers---Mohana, Doda, Sunbara Syali, Chaudhar and Jogbudha.

The Office also carried out last year embankments along the Khaniyam, Bangaon, Sunbara and Banara rivers.

However, delay in approval of budgets allocated for the programs and the rumour of integrating the district irrigation offices into the irrigation division of the water resources ministry has been hindering the irrigation as well as river control works carried out in the district, adds Gurung.