📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Hashtag India Magazine
Agriculture
₹36.5 crore spent on Hashtag Ganga Pump Canal in Lakhsiraj, yet fields stay dry
✍️ Amar Ujala · Bihar
🗓 26 Sep 2026, 01:15 PM
👁 11
The Hashtag Ganga pump canal project launched in 1994 in Surajgarh, Lakhsiraj district, has incurred a cost of about ₹36.5 crore but has failed to deliver irrigation water to farmers’ fields.
The Hashtag Ganga pump canal scheme, initiated in 1994 at Surajgarh in Lakhsiraj district of Bihar, was intended to draw water from the Ganga River and supply it to the surrounding agricultural lands. Over the decades, the project has absorbed roughly ₹36.5 crore in capital outlay.
Despite the sizable investment, the canal remains non‑operational for its core purpose. Field surveys conducted this year confirmed that irrigation water has not reached any of the targeted farms, leaving the cultivated area effectively dry.
Local farmer groups have lodged formal complaints with district authorities, urging the state government to either complete the pending works or consider a fresh construction plan that can meet the original irrigation targets.
State officials have acknowledged the shortfall and indicated that a technical review is underway to identify the reasons for the trial‑phase failure and to chart a corrective pathway.
Despite the sizable investment, the canal remains non‑operational for its core purpose. Field surveys conducted this year confirmed that irrigation water has not reached any of the targeted farms, leaving the cultivated area effectively dry.
Local farmer groups have lodged formal complaints with district authorities, urging the state government to either complete the pending works or consider a fresh construction plan that can meet the original irrigation targets.
State officials have acknowledged the shortfall and indicated that a technical review is underway to identify the reasons for the trial‑phase failure and to chart a corrective pathway.