The Left Front government may claim to give equal importance to both industrialisation and agriculture, but nearly 30,000 villagers of 20 villages in Uluberia do not believe them. For they have to incur huge financial losses every year as their crops are damaged by contaminated water used for irrigation. The water they use comes from the Hangar canal, which they say has become contaminated with poisonous residue, left over by "illegal" liquor factories. These factories, located in Amtala, Bauria and Sondalpur villages in Uluberia, boil palm juice and a poisonous powder named Nisadol to prepare liquor and then dumps the poisonous semi-liquid residue in the Hangar canal. The six kilometre long canal, which originates from Damodar, lends water for agriculture to over 20,000 farmers of Howrah, but its contaminated water has been destroying crops and polluting other water-bodies linked with it for many years. Sheikh Farukh Mallick, a Hatgacha-II panchayat member said, 20 villages including Amtala, Somrukh, Chaksomrukh and Durul are badly affected. "The villagers have failed to yield a good crop for years and the unnatural deaths of aquatic animals has become a daily routine. The villagers are also falling sick due to the foul smell of the canal water. Several complaints to the district magistrate, block development officer and in five other government offices have yielded no result,' Sheikh Mallick added. Before the last panchayat election in 2003, every political party had promised the villagers they would be relieved of this problem, but even after five years the maintenance work of the canal has not started. Instead, it has become a political issue for the ensuing polls, held here tomorrow. Sheikh Mallick said the sabhapati of Uluberia I panchayat samiti Mrs Mita Lathi had taken some initiatives last year and thousands of rupees were invested for the canal's development, but the slag in the canal cannot be taken out unless initiatives are taken by higher authorities as it needs a good amount of investment for proper irrigation. The district magistrate, Mr Khalil Ahmed said steps had been taken to make this canal pollution-free, but it needs more attention. Locals alleged that the police were aware of the illegal liquor factories. But, they are involved with the factory owners and they inform these people before raids, which helps them to hide the drums of liquor in a safe place, before police could reach there. An aggrieved farmer said he had to incur a loss of Rs 30,000 this year because the yield was not of good quality. He said the salinity of the cultivable land had increased due to the poisonous water of the canal and it destroyed his crop.