Siraha: Over 200 deep borings in Siraha district have been found dysfunctional due to a lack of necessary infrastructures, despite the government’s recent initiative to establish 500 deep borings in the Madhes districts in response to a prolonged drought. The initiative included both new installations and the repair of old ones, yet more than half of the previously installed deep borings in Siraha remain inoperative.
According to National News Agency Nepal, essential support elements such as transformers and pipelines were absent, hindering the operation of the deep borings. Additionally, there was insufficient interest among locals to revive the irrigation facilities. The Chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Narendra Kumar Mahaseth, reported that 32 out of 154 deep borings were non-functional in Golbazaar municipality, with similar issues in other municipalities including 17 in Dhangadhimai, seven each in Bhagwanpur and Nawarajpur, 16 in Karjanha, three in Bishnupur, and one in Sakhuwankarkati.
Further inspections revealed that some of these facilities were installed as long as 30 years ago. The breakdown of inoperative deep borings includes 10 in Bariyapatti, 24 in Mirchaiya, 14 in Arnama, 15 in Siraha municipality, one in Kalyanpur, all 21 in Laxmipur Patari, 10 in Sukhipur, and 32 in Naraha rural municipalities. In Lahan municipality, 13 out of 16 water pumping facilities are dysfunctional.
Local farmers and stakeholders are now emphasizing the need for proper maintenance and the resumption of these essential irrigation facilities.