Lucknow: Dam site mud gone, irrigation dept searching

LUCKNOW: Engineers of irrigation department in Mahoba have an arduous task at hand—they are searching for mud that disappeared after being dug out of a dam. District administration believes the mud was apparently ferried away by land sharks to fill up land and carve out plots to be sold off to gullible buyers. The incident has sent top brass of district administration in a tizzy, forcing it to constitute an inquiry.
The district administration, along with the UP Project Corporation (UPPC) and irrigation department started de-siltation of Kirat Sagar dam in Mahoba, around a fortnight ago. The exercise was undertaken to clean up the dam which happens to be a major source of water to swathes of agricultural land in the hitherto parched Bundelkhand region of UP.
Even as a huge amount of mud got piled up around the dam following the exercise, district administration thought of using it on government land. But to their surprise, authorities found substantial amount of mud going missing. “It is a government property and cannot be used for leveling private land. We are apprised that some of the mud has been used to level up private land,” confirmed Mahoba district magistrate Vireshwar Singh. According to rules, only government land could be filled up with the mud excavated out of the dam while private owners are required to pay the royalty.
“We are investigating the matter. If anyone is found colluding with land sharks they would be brought to book,” he said, while speaking to TOI. He said irrigation department engineers have been asked to search for the disappeared mud and have it dumped on suitable government land.
The district administration had initially asked the irrigation department to level up the undulated stretch on the collectorate premises. But even before the site could be taken up, the mud made it to a private site close to the collector's office. Likewise, a site near Kanshiram colony and a culvert was also filled up with the mud, sources said.
Singh said disiltation of the dam was not only done to facilitate irrigation in the region but also to raise the water level. Mahoba, as a matter of fact, has many water reservoirs which are used for irrigation purpose—the rocky feature of the soil does not allow installation of tube wells.