Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A section of officials in the state government seems to be insensitive to the woes of the public whom they are meant to serve. Such officials do not bother at all when the public requests them to fix important public services when they go out of order. The same officials, however, become very agile in completing such left-out works in no time when the Chief Minister intervenes.
Let us take the Irrigation Department to illustrate this fact. A large number of tube wells meant for irrigation had been lying defunct for a long time in the Rani Sapori area in the Kamrup district. The affected farmers repeatedly reported it to irrigation officials concerned but to no avail.
On January 14, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the Rani Sapori area. The affected farmers availed themselves of that opportunity and informed the chief minister of the long-defunct irrigation tube wells. The chief minister made no delay in instructing the irrigation officers concerned to repair the defunct tube wells.
Within two weeks, the department repaired the defunct tube wells in the area. The moot questions that prick every conscientious person are: if the department can repair defunct irrigation tube wells in such a short time, why has it left the tube wells without repair for a long time and made the farmers suffer? Why do they become agile as and when the Chief Minister intervenes?
The primary function of the Irrigation Department is to supply water to crop fields based on the farmers’ demand. However, the Irrigation Department of the state has miserably failed in its primary duty.
Complaints regarding irrigation hiccups keep coming from farmers in different areas. Despite the rich resources of water in the state, irrigation has become highly essential because of adverse and unpredictable weather conditions, including floods, erosion, drought-like situations, etc. Irrigation facilitates crop diversification and allows for multiple cropping cycles, contributing significantly to the overall economic stability of the agriculture sector.
However, the problem is the non-availability of funds in time for the wear and tear of the irrigation schemes. Erratic power supply concerning the electrically operated irrigation schemes is another problem. The theft of motors and pumps of irrigation schemes also leaves them defunct. The change of courses by rivers, from which the department uses water for surface flow irrigation and surface lift irrigation, also leaves the schemes defunct.
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