The elected representatives of the local levels of Nepal and India have jointly planted maize and eaten Nepali-style rice pudding (Kheer) on the occasion of Shrawan 15 at Tirkhadeni, Dashrathchand Municiplaity–10 on Friday.
The representatives engaged in the plantation on that day to celebrate the completion of the Mahakali River Lift Irrigation Project which has made irrigating the fields of Tirkhadeni possible for the first time ever.
Dashrathchand Municipality Mayor Narendra Singh Thapa, chief of the District Coordination Committee Siddha Raj Bhatta and Vice-President of the Baitadi district chapter of the Nepali Congress Chatur Bahadur Chand participated in the plantation with the head of the Balatadi Village Assembly of Pithauragadh, India Gopi Ram and member Umesh Chandra Bhatt.
The locals also welcomed the irrigation project officials with music.
According to local farmer Shanti Budal, the project will enable farmers to plant four crops a year. “We literally lived next to the Mahakali River but had no water for farming. But now we do and we are very happy,” she said.
Mayor Thapa thanked the local social organisation Rudes for seeing the project through to its completion. “Rudes provided technical assistance to the lift project, for which the municipality had also allocated Rs. 1.5 million,” he informed.
Executive Director of Rudes Govinda Raj Joshi stated that it was quite a struggle to complete the project. He also acknowledged the help provided by the local, provincial and federal governments and mentioned that the work was part of Rudes’s larger involvement in OXFAM’s Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA) programme.
Balatadi head Ram said that he was happy for the lands of Nepal to get irrigated and said that the hard work of Nepalis was an inspiration to Indians living near the border.
Source : TRN,
