GUWAHATI, March 4 � Taking serious note of the defunct irrigation system in the State, Assembly Speaker Pranab Gogoi today asked Irrigation Minister Chandan Sarkar to expedite the department�s functioning in the greater interest of the farming community.
�Irrigation has remained a most neglected subject and the Irrigation Department has earned a bad reputation for the Government. The minister should do the needful to ensure that it discharges its mandated responsibilities,� Gogoi said.
Earlier, Binanda Saikia (Congress) expressed concern over the abysmally slow and tardy implementation of the Nonoi irrigation scheme at Sipajhar in Darrang district and sought the minister�s intervention in taking the project to its logical conclusion.
Prasanta Phukan (BJP), in a supplementary question, demanded a probe by a House committee into the defunct status of irrigation schemes across the State.
�An amount of Rs 89.71 crore was allotted during 2009-11 for irrigation projects in Mangaldoi alone, but this is not visible on the ground. Let there be a House committee to probe the large-scale corruption taking place in the Irrigation Department,� he said.
