The Bengal irrigation department has decided to supply water to farmlands through pipelines from the Teesta river and its canals, instead of acquiring more land to dig new canals, sub-canals and drains.

On Friday, officials of the department, along with their counterparts in the land and land reforms and agriculture departments, held a meeting here on the new pipe irrigation system.

“The pipe irrigation system will be introduced to bring in more agricultural land under the ambit of the Teesta Barrage project," said J.P. Pandey, the executive engineer of Teesta Barrage Division (Mahananda) of the state irrigation department.

He said that instead of digging new canals and sub-canals, "we will build reservoirs in different locations".

"Water will be drawn from the Teesta and will be supplied to farmers through reservoirs and a network of pipelines,” he added.

Sources said that the department had prepared a detailed project report to introduce this new system in Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur districts, and the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district.

“The state government has given consent to the project for which we won't have to acquire any land. Water distribution will be done more effectively and farmers can regulate the flow of water to their fields,” said an official.

The Teesta Barrage Project was taken up in 1975 with a goal to provide water in 9.22 lakh hectares of farmland across north Bengal. So far, water is provided to only around one lakh hectares.

Swapan Kumar Saha, the superintending engineer of the Mahananda barrage division of the department, said that after the pipelines are laid, farmers of those plots can farm on them without any problem.

“We have asked elected representatives and administrative officials to tell farmers about this new system so that pipelines can be laid without hassle,” said Saha.

Krishna Roy Barman, the Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad sabhadipati present at the meeting, appreciated the decision. “It is a good initiative. We asked irrigation officials for details of how much area they want to cover through this new system so that we can approach farmers,” he said.