Farmers against dam closure

Farmers against dam closure

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Sukoharjo

A vocal protest from about 700 farmers outside the Colo Dam
complex in Sukoharjo, Central Java, have led to a planned closure
of the dam for maintenance to be delayed a month.

The authority was planning to close the dam temporarily to
allow it to repair irrigation canals starting on Sept. 8.

If the authority went ahead with the plan, the protesters had
threatened to resort to violence to keep the canals open.

"If the irrigation canals are closed, our paddy plants will
perish," said protest coordinator and farmer Giman Yitno from
Sukoharjo regency. The other farmers at the demonstration came
from Sukoharjo, Karanganyar, Sragen and Wonogiri, all areas with
paddy fields served by the Colo Dam.

Responding to the protest, Bengawan-Solo Water Authority chief
Johan Hidayat promised to delay the closure for one month in
order to allow farmers to irrigate their paddy fields.

While bowing to the farmer demands, Johan said he was
disappointed they had ignored the authority's earlier warning it
would shut down the dam in September.

"They should have been prepared earlier. As the result of
farmer ignorance, we now have to delay the irrigation repair
project," Johan said.

Lestari Mulyo Farmer Association chief Sarjanto in Sukoharjo
earlier said the temporary closure of Colo dam was untimely and
if the plan had been executed, it would have affected some 40,000
hectares of paddy fields in four regencies.

Suwarto, a farmer from Karanganyar regency, said thousands of
farmers in his area desperately needed water from the dam as they
had just planted their fields.

"Their fields are only a month old and the plants need a large
amount of water," Suwarto said.