Raqqa-Sana
For the tenth day in a row, the "Qasd" militia continues to cut off electricity to the people in the liberated countryside of Raqqa, as part of the pressures it exerts against citizens, especially farmers, whose crops and crops have been damaged by the stopping of irrigation water pumping due to the electricity cut.
In statements to SANA correspondent, Abdullah Abd al-Hadid, head of the Musharifah Ghanem Al-Ali Farmer Association in the liberated countryside of Raqqa governorate, described the power cut by the "Qasd militia" as catastrophic for the life of the region and its people, who were glad after the resumption of the "Mughala" project last year by the government. Supporting their agricultural crops at that time, especially wheat, indicating that stopping the irrigation project now due to cutting off electricity again has serious repercussions and effects on the region's farmers who have spent since the beginning of the wheat growing season and until now more than one billion Syrian pounds as the price of seeds, fertilizer, diesel, irrigation, plowing and other requirements of the agricultural process.
Othman Muhammad Al-Hamid of the Al-Aasiya Farmer Association in the liberated countryside said that cutting off electricity and the resulting stoppage of the “Al-Mughala” project that extends the Al-Sabkha area is tantamount to a cessation of life in the agricultural lands located within the association’s area and its area of about 50 thousand dunams due to the vital importance of irrigation water to it. Groundwater is salty and unfit for agriculture.
Jassim Al-Mouh, a damaged farmer in the liberated countryside, considered that the electricity cut primarily targets the producers of grain, especially wheat, and the efforts of the "Qasd militia" and its supporters to stop production and inflict losses on farmers who contribute to securing part of the local need for wheat, given that the lands in this region are a source of production. Important for this strategic crop, calling on those concerned to support farmers in various ways and to find possible alternatives to continue agricultural production.
The Governor of Raqqa, Abd al-Razzaq Khalifa, stated that the “Qasd militia” was not satisfied with cutting off electricity for the tenth day in a row. Rather, its members deliberately removed and stole the cables of electrical networks in order to permanently cut off electricity to our people in the liberated countryside of Raqqa governorate as part of its aggressive practices against citizens. The irrigated agricultural lands are the most affected by the electricity cut, which has stopped irrigation operations.
The governor of Raqqa indicated that since the Qasd cut off electricity to the liberated countryside, the governorate is striving in cooperation with the various concerned authorities to find alternatives and take steps to limit the repercussions and negative effects of cutting electricity and stopping agricultural land irrigation stations and projects by working to launch and implement alternative projects to generate electricity from To be implemented in the coming weeks.
The governor of Raqqa pointed out that the liberated countryside of the governorate affected by the electricity cut includes about 70 villages located on the bed on the right bank of the Euphrates River, with a distance of 47 kilometers, starting from the town of Shannan to the village of Al-Suwayd.