Bihar man digs a 3-km-long canal in 30 years to irrigate parched fields

In a period of 30 years, a man in Bihar’s Gaya carved out a three-kilometre-long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to his village, Kothilwa’s field in the Lahthua area.

Talking to news agency ANI, Laungi Bhuiyan, who has carved out the canal on his own, said, “It took me 30 years to dig this canal which takes the water to a pond in the village.” Bhuiyan said he dug out the canal when he went to the nearby jungle to tend his cattles.

“No one joined me in this endeavour… Villagers are going to cities to earn a livelihood but I decided to stay back,” he told ANI.

Marked as a refuge for Maoists, Kothilwa village is at a distance of 80 kms from Gaya district headquarters, surrounded by dense forest and mountains.

The water falling from the mountains in Kothiwal during the rainy season used to flow into the river which used to bother Bhuiyan, after which he thought of carving a canal.

Patti Manjhi, a local, told ANI that the canal, carved out by Bhuiyan, will ‘benefit a large number of animals and to irrigate the fields as well.’

Another resident of Gaya, Ram Vilas Singh, a teacher, said that because of Bhuiyan’s work, ‘people are getting to know him.’ quoted PTI.