After Jaipur, Bundi farmers bury themselves in pit demanding water

Farmers in Bichdi village are demanding canal water for irrigating Rabi crops.

Taking a cue from farmers in Jaipur, who buried themselves in pits to protest land acquisition, farmers in Bundi’s Bichdi village on Thursday got into pits to demand canal water for irrigating Rabi crops.

Villagers of Bichdi village in Bundi organise Zameen Satyagraha over demand for canal water. (AH Zaidi/HT Photo)

The village is located at the tail end of the canal network of Chambal command area. Five farmers, including two women, buried themselves in 3-ft-deep pits.

Farmers in Jaipur’s Ninder village organised pit protest in 2017. The Bichdi village called their protest ‘zameen samadhi’ to demand canal water for their drying crops.

Satyanarayan, a villager sitting in the pit said, “We have raised the issue of canal water, that had problem reaching this village, but when the administration turned a deaf ear, we were forced to sit on Zameen Satyagraha.”

Former zila pramukh of Bundi, Mahaveer Meena said that the Command Area Development (CAD) authority is being partial in releasing canal water. Affluent farmers are getting the benefit of the canal network while the tail end farmers are being denied.