The Hindu : Farm pond scheme mired in controversy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 29, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Farm pond scheme mired in controversy

By V. Venkatasubramanian

Karaikal Dec. 28. The heavily subsidised farm pond scheme seems to have mired in controversy in Karaikal with farmers and officials locking horns with each other.

While farmers claim that they were dejected the way in which the government wanted to implement the scheme--by calling tenders through the Pondicherry Agro Services and Industries Corporation (PASIC). Highly placed sources in the PASIC clarified that the corporation had kept itself away from the scheme on coming to know about the dissent among the ryots.

Once the work is allotted to a contractor, the PASIC is entitled for a service charge of around 10 to 15 per cent of the tender cost. The contractor would also be looking for certain percentage from the remaining amount as his profit margin. Hence, the total amount available to the scheme would be reduced considerably and the work would not be up to the expectations of landlords, the farmers apprehended.

Expressing concern over the delay in full-fledged implementation of the scheme under the supervision of the Agriculture Department's Engineering Cell, the general secretary of the Karaikal Region Agriculturists' Association, T.K.S.M. Kalyanasundaram, pointed out that farm operation of late turned out to be a rain-fed one in spite of a well laid surface water irrigation canal network linked with branches of Cauvery.

"Even if Mettur were to be opened for normal course of irrigation or the outflow is stepped up to tide over irrigation crisis in delta districts of Tamil Nadu, it will not make any difference for us. The northeast monsoon (which accounts for 70 per cent of the annual rainfall for Karaikal region) only brings water in our irrigation canals. But the rainfall is not spread over the whole monsoon," he pointed.

However, construction of tail-end barrages across Thirumalairajan, Nandalar and Arasalar did provide some respite for ryots having their ayacuts on the banks as the salinity in groundwater reduced considerably. Others, having their ayacuts in interior areas, viewed the 100 per cent subsidised scheme as a boon to overcome the persistent problem of non-availability of surface water for irrigation. But they were dejected when they came to know that the scheme would be implemented through a `third-party', which showed that they would not be in a position to receive the Rs.1 lakh subsidy directly from the Government. "Thus the ryots lost interest in the scheme as they did not want to be a witness to siphoning off of substantial amount by out-side agencies. Several pleas and suggestions to pass on the subsidy directly to farmers have failed to evoke favourable response from the Government," Mr. Kalyanasundaram claimed.

Meanwhile, enquiries revealed that the decision taken by the Government to dig farm ponds through the PASIC was a sequel to the erroneous execution of the previous subsidy scheme by the ryots. While the farmers were expected to dump the topsoil that was excavated on their own field to take up horticulture or vegetable cultivation, majority of them sold it out for a fee. Since their act was against the aim for which the scheme was promoted, the Government decided to execute the present Rs.1 lakh subsidy scheme through PASIC, official sources said.

When contacted, the chairman of the PASIC and Thirunallar MLA, R. Kamalakkannan, said though it was announced in the last budget that PASIC would be involved in the scheme, the corporation decided to stay away from it on coming to know dissension among ryots to part with certain amount to PASIC in the name of service charges.

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