Hyderabad: A mid-season surge in planting paddy is learnt to have resulted in increasing pressure on the irrigation department to ensure adequate water reaches farmers growing rice this Kharif crop season. Sources in the irrigation department acknowledged that there was increasing pressure from elected representatives and farmers for irrigation, at least for transplanting paddy. “Until a clear announcement is made that there will be no irrigation water for any crop, farmers will expect irrigation. And the pressure on the irrigation department is only expected to increase once the now tapering-off rain spell makes way for a prolonged dry period,” an official said. Sources said that the government was finding itself caught in a cleft stick – it could not make what could be a politically sensitive ‘no irrigation’ declaration for the farmer’s favourite crop, and neither could it say it could provide irrigation.