Man carves out 3-km canal in 30 years to irrigate fields

Gaya: A man has carved out a three-kilometre long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to fields of his village, Kothilawa in Lahthua area of Gaya in Bihar.

"It took me 30 years to dig this canal which takes the water to a pond in the village," said Laungi Bhuiyan who has dug out the canal single-handedly in Gaya. "For the last 30 years, I would go to the nearby jungle to tend my cattle and dig out the canal. No one joined me in this endeavour... Villagers are going to cities to earn a livelihood but I decided to stay back," he added.

Kothilwa village is surrounded by dense forest and mountains, about 80 km away from Gaya district headquarters. This village is marked as a refuge for Maoists.

The main means of livelihood for the people in Gaya are farming and animal husbandry. During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow into the river which used to bother Bhuiyan following which he thought of carving out a canal.