Farmers of Bihar are rejoicing at the arrival of water from Jharkhand, while those from the JMM-ruled state are miffed at the arrangement.

A farmer from Jharkhand’s Hussainabad Zafar Alam seemed agitated that Bihar gets a lion’s share of water from the Mandal dam. “It is a tragedy that our land remains parched of irrigational facilities but our water irrigates six times more land in Bihar.”

On January 6, 2019, Hemant Soren, then an MLA, had threatened to block Jharkhand water from reaching Bihar, saying water would be released for Bihar only when it was in excess.

Hemant’s statement had come in the backdrop of Narendra Modi’s remarks, when the Prime Minister was in Daltonganj on January 5, 2019, for laying the foundation stone of a project to renew work on the four-decade-old Mandal dam. Modi had said Jharkhand’s water will make Bihar’s farmers happy.

The Mohammadganj barrage is attached to North Koyal Water Reservoir, popularly called Mandal dam, located in Latehar district of Jharkhand. Here, the water is retained and Bihar gets a major share of the water in comparison to Jharkhand.

Sources said there was a furore over sharing of water then as the Hemant-led JMM had threatened to launch a mass stir against giving even a single drop of water to Bihar.

Now that the political scenario has turned around with the JMM at the steering wheel of the present dispensation, this intimidating tone has vanished, says civil society activist Akhtar Zaman.

Water from Jharkhand has started flowing to Bihar with 300 cusecs being pumped from Palamau’s Mohammadganj barrage as on Wednesday. As much as 404 cusecs was pumped out on Thursday, sources said.

Jharkhand’s water reaches Bihar from its right main canal, 110.41km in length, of which only 31.40km falls within the state. The barrage also has a small left main canal of 11.89km and it supplies water to parts of Garhwa district in Jharkhand.

Executive engineer of Palamau’s irrigation department Jamil Akhtar and his counterpart in Bihar, Aurangabad’s Rajinder Ram, with whom The Telegraph Online spoke separately, said “Jharkhand's water has begun reaching Bihar. It started with 300 cusecs on Wednesday but on Thursday it was 404 cusecs.”

Both the engineers expressed hope that the flow of Jharkhand water for Bihar will be increased gradually, while also agreeing that the water retained and stored definitely belonged to Jharkhand and that the farmers of Bihar benefitted the most from it.

Akhtar said while the water irrigates 12,000 hectare land in Palamau, only 1,000 hectare is irrigated in Garhwa district.

In comparison, engineer Ram said the water from Jharkhand irrigates 72,000 hectare land in Bihar's districts of Aurangabad and Gaya.

Sources said Jharkhand water is released on two occasions for Rabi crops and then for Kharif crops.

Sources also said farmers of Aurangabad and Gaya have set up an organisation called Rashtriya Kissan Mazdoor Vikas Manch-Aurangabad to pressure irrigation officials of Jharkhand to discharge water for them.