The monsoon in Assam has been terrible in June and though the rain in the first week of July has been good, time is running out for late sowing, it's now or never.
So, the government has announced a drought-like situation with the aim of getting the officials out into the fields and get help to the farmers at any cost.
Hari Chetri has resigned to his fate. Inadequate rainfall has destroyed the standing crop for the season. Ironically Chetri's field has canals connected to an irrigation project but all the channels have run dry.
"This scheme makes no difference to us. It has never worked so we are dependent on rains," said Hari Chetri, farmer.
Letu Orang hasn't been able to plant saplings and time is running out.
"With such an irrigation project meant for us I don't know why we are not getting water," said Letu Orang, farmer.
The Kolong Kaliabor Irrigation project was meant to cover an area of around 2,500 hectares in Nagaon district. Work on this project started in 1975 and was completed in 1987 at a cost of Rs 78 crore but the project is virtually defunct.
"ASEB isn't supplying us electricity regularly and that's the difficulty," said Kanak Chandra Hazarika, Sectional Officer, Irrigation Project.
This year the government has released Rs 90 lakh to revamp the project, but the project is still not operational.
"We applied for RTI and now a PIL to expose the scam and bring to public notice the people responsible for the it," said Munindra Saikia, RTI applicant.
