A convention of flood affected farmers organised by the AIKS state committee at Hisar on April 28 resolved to fight for permanent solutions to the repeatedly occuring floods in various parts of Haryana and other neighbouring states. 

Attended by more than 150 activists drawn from eight districts, the convention was inaugurated by AIKS Vice President Inderjit Singh who recalled the unprecedented flood devastation during the last monsoon and described its occurrence as a result not just of natural factors but also of administrative and systemic failures. He deliberated on the losses suffered by farmers and agricultural labourers in terms of damage to standing crops, degradation of soil and their livelihood. 

A detailed resolution was placed by state general secretary Sumit dealing with the extent of damages, local factors responsible for aggravating the flood intensity, indifference of the ‘double engine’ governments, long term preventive measures and course of action for phase wise mass campaign to be taken up. 

The resolution prepared by the state committee points out how the Hisar Ghaggar multi -purpose drain constructed for preventing the floods has instead proved to be the main factor for inundating hundreds of villages in Bhiwani , Hisar and other districts. Maintenance work has not been carried out on most of the drains since these were commissioned long ago. The capacity of this drain has drastically decreased for want of desiltation and strengthening of its embankments. Its final disposal in the main Ghaggar at Ottu headworks in Sirsa district is lacking a proper pumping system thus defeating the very purpose it was visualised for. 

Participants revealed their local experiences of how excess rain waters used to soon recede in the past through natural topography which is since obstructed by senseless construction of highways and other projects and making provision for subways resulting into widespread water logging. Such a skewed developmental trajectory has rendered vast tracts of land uncultivable leaving the farmers without cultivating their lands for many seasons together. A total of 31 lakh acres of standing crops were submerged and damaged but the revenue department under the BJP government’s unwritten orders accepted the claims of damages of just 1.20 lakh acres. Tthe compensation is still awaited and farmers are fighting for their genuine claims. 

 Dr Mahavir Jaglan, a former head of the Kurukshetra University Geography department, presented the topographic mapping of Haryana prepared on the basis of list of total number of flood prone villages of the state. He explained how natural disasters have become a permanent phenomenon given global warming and drastic climate changes.  He concretely suggested mitigation measures for floods and waterlogging in Haryana.

He explained that Central Haryana, in particular from Jhajjar to Sirsa, has very low slope and poor horizontal and vertical drainage. It needs urgent improvement.

1. Improve the horizontal drainage: Desiltation and widening of the existing natural and artificial drains.

2. All the existing drains and water passages should be audited in all the affected districts by a committee of civil engineers and farmers to evaluate their performance and functioning. On the basis of the audit report, these should be repaired and levelling should be done accordingly.

3. The points should be identified where these drains are crossing the canal distributaries of minors. On these points a link should be established between the drain and canal distributary by water pumps. This drain water can be taken by the canal distributaries to the areas of water scarcity in western and southern Haryana. 

4. Identify the sites along roads, railways and canals where waterlogging takes place and construct the under passage to facilitate surface flow in the potential waterlogged areas.

5.  Manage high water table by creating subsurface drainage and controlled groundwater extraction to improve vertical drainage. Identify the villages/areas having sub-surface kankar/clay layers to carry out projects for improving vertical drainage.  

6. Institutional coordination: There is a need of strengthening coordination between the departments concerning floods and waterlogging. It includes Haryana State Disaster Management Authority, Revenue Department, Irrigation Department etc.

7. Early flood warning systems: Improve forecasting of floods and waterlogging in the wake of heavy precipitation events via India Meteorological Department.

 Dr Baljit Bhyan, an activist of the Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti, exhorted the audience to make radical scientific changes in the irrigation methodology. 

State AIKS President Master Balbir Singh announced the schedule of holding a series of local level panchayats with the grass root involvement of various sections of people to be followed by agitational activities.

Later, a demonstration was taken out up to canal colony campus where the Superintending Engineer had a detailed point-wise discussion on the memorandum with a delegation of the AIKS and assured to send it to Haryana Chief Minister and implement the tasks under his jurisdiction. The memorandum has emphasised that MGNREGA could have been most useful in all the flood prevention projects but is being abolished. Most importantly, the memorandum has also demanded a periodic social audit of the implementation of all measures sanctioned by the Flood Control and Disaster management Board headed by the Chief Minister.