Helmsmen seems to consider desilting as opportunity to siphon funds
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Every year, the network of canals set up by the erstwhile Maharajas of the state of J&K requires to be de-silted as the water coming from River Chenab has silt in huge proportions thus affecting the flow and acting as hurdle for water to reach the tail ends of the manmade water body.
This necessity allegedly was used by the corrupt as an opportunity to siphon funds because once the water is released in the canal no one can probe that desilting was complete or not. The incumbent government was critical about the past corrupt practices and assured that the corruption in the whole gamut will be stopped under its realms but on ground things remained same as ever as can be witnessed on various stretches.
In this context, residents of Bhagwati Nagar raised serious concern over callous attitude of the Irrigation Department as the aforesaid canal has not de-silted properly and today the water was released in the canal so that remaining silt may flow with the water. The residents are alleging that the Irrigation Department has carried out desilting half-heartedly as there were vast stretches of canal which were filled with tons of silt and whatever has been removed from the canal were placed on the road-side showing callousness of the concerned department. People are complaining that Bhagwati Nagar area is worst as far as indifferent attitude of the concerned department is concerned.
Sanjay Gupta, a resident of the area, said it’s a matter of every year. He said that people were expecting that LG’s administration will act differently but to no avail as things have even gone worse under UT Administration. “The desilting work has not been carried out properly. It is a big scam and needs to be probed at the highest level”, he maintained.
Local Corporator Suchha Singh held Irrigation Department responsible for this mess. He said that whenever the matter is taken up with officials they give lame excuses. It’s a matter of every year whenever the de-silting work was carried out in the canal the officials concerned never bothered to take serious note of people’s issues and preferred to sit in the air-conditioned offices instead of visiting the site and take stock of desilting work. He demanded that a thorough probe is the need of the hour to unearth the mystery and book the culprits.