Neglected by Maharashtra government, farmer builds dam after selling land

 

Sanjay Tidke, a farmer from a village in Maharashtra's Akola district, has sold his land to build a concrete dam for the farming community, after facing rejections from the state government.

"I have 20 to 25 acres of land, a canal flows through my farm and since there was no dam to block water, every monsoon a large portion of my farm would get washed off. I used to make a dam with soil, but after the rains the soil dam used to sink. I did this for two years in 2013 and 2014, but eventually I decided to build a concrete dam. It was too expensive, so I went to seek the help of the administration," Tidke said.

The 42-year-old farmer said that the government officials raised objections when he began to build the dam and filed complaint against him for using the soil as they dubbed it 'illegal'.

"The administration tried to harass me in the name of law. The construction of dam was stopped for four to five days. I faced a loss of Rs. two lakh," he said.

"I informed them about my problems, I repeatedly asked the government for assistance to build a dam, but they refused to provide any assistance. So, I decided to build the dam on my own," he added.

Tidke, who sold 10 acres for Rs. 55 lakh, is using Rs. 20 lakh to build a dam having a water storage capacity of three crore litres.

The farmer also vent his ire against the officials, who initially posed hindrances but are now appreciating his initiative.

"They are the ones, who didn't help me when I was pleading them for support. Now, they are saying that they would assist me in the rest of the work," he said.