Dhanusha. The Madhes state government has started the process of distributing shallow tubewells at a cost of Rs 180 million for drought-hit farmers. The Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Madhes Province has come up with a scheme to distribute shallow tubewells to farmers in eight districts of the province under the Dry Zone Assistance Programme.

Spokesperson at the Ministry, Saroj Chaudhary, said that the distribution of shallow tubewells has been started from the concerned Agriculture Knowledge Center office to the farmers affected by drought in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Siraha and Saptari. According to him, 1,200 shallow tubewells will be distributed based on the needs and priorities of the people.

Spokesperson Chaudhary said that it would cost rs 100,000 to Rs 300,000 to install a shallow tubewell. Adding solar will cost more. He said that the cost of installing the tubewell will be based on the depth of the water.

With the issuance of the notification, farmers have now come to the Agriculture Knowledge Center, Dhanusha, to apply for shallow tubewells. Centre’s agriculture technician Ganesh Adhikari said that more than 1,100 applications have been received till Friday. This number will increase further as the time for submission of applications is still there.

Technical officials said that more applications are being received than the shallow tubewells provided by the office. “The office has a budget to install around 200 shallow tubewells. But the application has been doubled. ’

The process of installing shallow tubewells in the fields of the farmers will be forwarded after investigating the applications received, the official said. Due to lack of adequate rainfall this year, the attraction towards shallow tubewells, an alternative to irrigation, has increased. Ram Babu Mahato of Digambarpur of Kshireshwarnath Municipality-9, who came to apply on Friday, said paddy sowing has been stopped due to lack of rain for a long time. “There was no rain on time this year and the fields are all dry. ’

The Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Dhanusha, had published a notice on August 17, calling for submission of applications along with necessary documents within seven days. It has asked the farmers for a copy of citizenship, recommendation of the local level, copy of the land owner’s permit, certified map of the unit to be installed and other documents to submit the application. There is a provision to submit a certified land parcel of two bighas of agricultural land to the Agricultural Knowledge Center to get a shallow tubewell.