Thought the Government has introduced various innovative ‘yojnas’ for the benefit of farmers, most of them seem to be continuously failing, an example of which is seen from the plight of farmers of Manvakheda, which does not seem to be improving for the last 20 years.

Manvakheda, a village situated nearly 9 km from Udaipur, is contaminated with tons of sewage dumps in the agriculture fields.  Tons of sewage dumps each day is polluting even the ground water system, which is completely blocking the only source of livelihood for approximately 500 houses located in the village.

A 12 km long open duct was constructed to pump out the waste coming from suburban city areas like Sector 3,4,5 and 6 of Hiran Magri.  This duct was constructed 20 yrs back, and was left incomplete with tail opening in the farming lands.

The urban dirt has infected almost 60 bighas of land that the village is located on.  From time to time, newspapers and TV channels have published this news, but no effective measures have been taken by the authorities as yet.  The sewage system was set up by the Urban Improvement Trust of Udaipur.

Khemraj, 55, a farmer who is worried about the future of his sons, says “I have 25 bigha of land which was fertile but now it is of no use.  The land is ruined due to the toxic filth spreading all over.”

Shankarlal, 24, a daily wage laborer and resident of the village said, “This contaminated filth has caused severe health problems in the village.  Fever is a common disease with the children and elders of Manvakheda.  In the rainy season, the condition worsens because of still water which again spurs risk of venomous creatures, etc.”

Vishnu Patel 45, says “from the last 20 years, we have been complaining to government authorities, viz. UIT, Nagar Parishad and Gram Panchayat, but nobody ever took even a small step to resolve this issue.  Finally we decided to boycott voting but it also doesn’t seem to affect the authority.  From the last 12 years, this drainage water has polluted the ground water, leaving no drinking water resource for us.”

While digging deep into the issue it was discovered that, another sewerage line which is under consideration of UIT for Sewerage Plant has its main exit in the Ayad River.  Over the years, villagers have been using this liquid waste for farming as well, as a result of which the farming products, namely vegetables and fruits will all be highly contaminated.

According to sources, the installation of the drainage pipe is incomplete and the opening has been left open.

A series of talks and discussions have been conducted regarding developing the urban infrastructure, but villages like Manvakheda and its farmers have been left ignored and unattended.  It seems useless to talk about the largest fish aquarium and flyover when there is sorrow and disquiet among the other side of Udaipur and its citizens.

UT calls on all its readers to take up this issue, as our brethren farmers are suffering directly and we are consuming the products given by that part of farming land.