Bijnor (UP), Feb 27 : A dispute over compensation between authorities and farmers has inordinately delayed the construction of nine branches of Eastern Ganga canal. The construction began in 1989 but remains incomplete till date, affecting around 10,000 farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor and Amroha districts. According to officials, a compensation of Rs 100 crore is to be given to the farmers. However, the farmers have demanded an amount in line with the current circle rate due to the increase in the cost of the land. Baburam Tomar Mandal, president of BKU, said, "The government launched free irrigation schemes but thousands of farmers were unable to avail those as the canal passing through their area was incomplete. The government should provide compensation to the farmers for their land where the canal is to be built." Bijnor's executive engineer of East Ganga Canal Vikas Agrawal said, "There are some obstacles in the construction of gaps in nine branches, and we are trying to resolve the issue. We completed Dhaabi miner last year after resolving farmers' issues. I hope other miners will also be accomplished in the upcoming days." The canal covers agricultural lands of Bijnor and Amroha and has 166 branches that span over 500 kilometres stretch. However, water is available for irrigation in this canal only during the kharif season. Of the total, nine miners including Amroha's Shuwala, Jujar, Kheda, Bijnor's Khairpur, Imaliya, Jaganwala, Jhalu, Ajeejpura, and Sallahpur are still under construction since 1989. "The construction of the main branch was completed in 1989. We thought that we would get water from the canal, but our miner connected to the main branch is still incomplete. There is some gap in the Kheda branch, said an official. /IANS