The Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament has recommended designating the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency for the irrigation system in the country. According to the committee, this will steer the agriculture sector to achieve the national goal of food self-sufficiency and security. Farmers across the country have been reporting erratic supply of irrigation water with some even leaving their agriculture land fallow due to severe water shortage. Members said that the persistent irrigation water issues facing farmers across the country today should be solved by making interventions at the policy level. The Public Accounts Committee of the house presented the performance Audit report on the Irrigation system to the Members of the Parliament today.
During the session, the majority of the Members said that one of the factors leading to irrigation water issues is the challenges in the distribution of water in the villages.
They said this issue needs to be solved with proper guidance and policy.
The Members of the Parliament also said that the lack of coordination between the concerned organizations leads to inadequacy and shortcomings in managing and solving the issue through a dedicated channel.
“When we visit places and meet people they say that there is an irrigation system and that they get water. However, the major issue they face is the distribution of irrigation water. Similarly, Janna Gewog and Rubi Places are still facing these challenges and it is likely that people across the country will face the same issue. Hence, I would suggest the government guide the distribution of the water according to the area of the land,” said Kinley Wangchuk, Athang Thedtsho MP.
“Traditionally, the distribution of water was carried out in line with the area of the land by clearing the irrigation channel. Now, people distribute water through pipes. People connect the pipes from wherever they like as a result the water becomes inadequate for those people residing in the lower part of the village. Hence, a handful of people did suggest to review the Water Act of Bhutan 2011,” said Dawa, Deputy Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee.
To this, the chairperson of the committee said that no major challenges related to water distribution have been reported to them so far.
“When the committee and the Royal Audit Authority met the people and discussed this matter, we did not find people having huge water distribution challenges. The reason was that the Water Act of Bhutan 2011 seemed to have solved most of their challenges,” said Gyambo Tshering, Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said that upon His Majesty The King’s command, a new organization has been set up to address these issues.
“We are working and we have a new organization set up whose responsibilities and objectives will be to solve the shortcomings mentioned in the house. As we need experts in the water field, starting this year a four-year course Dedicated Water Resource Engineering has been started in the College of Science and Technology. As they graduate in this field, gradually we will be able to have water technicians and be able to work here as well as in foreign countries as an expert,” said Dr Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister.
The committee also recommended designating the Department of Water as a lead agency to expedite the operation of the National Integrated Water Resource Management Plan.
In addition, the committee proposed five other recommendations to resolve the water-related issues in the country. All the Members of the Parliament supported the committee’s recommendations.
The house will vote and adopt the Public Accounts Committee’s review report on the Performance Audit Reports of Irrigation Systems and deliberate on the Preparedness for Cyber security tomorrow.
Sonam Yuden and Karma Wangdi
Edited by Phub Gyem
