About one thousand eight hundred meters main canal and minor canal have been constructed in Mahidbra reservoir of remote Vananchal area of tribal and Baiga-dominated Pandariya development block of Kabirdham district. With the increase in the length of the main canal, about 80 farmers of Mahidbra have now started getting water for irrigation directly from the canal. With this, irrigation potential has been expanded for about 75 hectares of cultivated land. This was an age-old demand of the farmers. With the expansion of the canal, the farmers have returned to their glory. With the work of canal expansion, now the farmers in the village will not need to depend only on the rains. The work of canal expansion will be linked to the ambitious Suraji Gaon Yojana of the Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel and the Government of Chhattisgarh, through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. In the year 2020-21, the work was approved at a cost of Rs.14 lakh 6 thousand. In this work 12 lakh 26 thousand rupees were proposed to be spent on wages and 2 lakh 40 thousand rupees on materials. With this work done by the Water Resources Department, 80 farmers of Mahidbra have now started getting water directly from the canal for irrigation.
It is noteworthy that while helping in this work of canal expansion, many farmers have voluntarily donated their private land for the work of canal line and as soon as the work is completed, the villagers are getting its pleasant results. Those villagers who were earlier able to take only Kharif crops due to lack of water, those rural families are now taking Rabi crops also and increasing their income.
It is said that our India resides in the village itself and the main work of the villagers is agriculture which is their main means of livelihood. At the same time, the state of Chhattisgarh is also called as a bowl of rice, because most of the people of the state living in rural areas, doing farming and producing crops (paddy) is their main occupation. For cultivation, the farmer or rather the Annadata has to depend on the rainy season for water. The main objective of Narva Abhiyan under the Suraji Gaon Yojana being run by the Chhattisgarh government in the state is to connect the farmers with other means of irrigation while working in the rainy season. So that there can be enough water for agriculture throughout the year. According to the intention of the government, along with water conservation, new works are being done continuously in the direction of expansion of water sources in Kabirdham district. On the one hand, under Narva Abhiyan, the drains flowing in different places of the district are being revamped and made for re-use, along with this, in places where there is no provision of drains, there are water sources from other departmental schemes. are being delivered to the villagers.