Assam has 14 per cent farmland irrigated under irrigation department schemes, says minister

Assam has just about 14 per cent of agricultural land that is currently being irrigated under the schemes of the Irrigation Department. This was stated by state irrigation minister Ashok Singhal at the floor of the state legislative assembly at the ongoing budget session. 

Replying to query by Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi, Singhal said that 14 per cent of the total agricultural land is currently irrigated by the schemes of the Irrigation Department. These schemes provide water for Kharif crops (June to October) and Rabi crops (November to May). 

In this regard, Singhal further stated that as of 2023, 14 per cent of the total agricultural land is irrigated by the schemes of the Irrigation Department. He also added that records of irrigation done by farmers themselves are not available in this department.

On the query of net sown area and gross sown area of paddy in Assam, Singhal stated that According to the data in the Total Land Once Cultivated with Paddy in Assam, the total area under paddy cultivation for the year 2021-22 is 23.53 lakh hectares. He further said that Net Sown Area of various crops is 27.24 lakh hectares and Gross Sown Area is 38.88 lakh hectares. It was also mentioned that of these, 11.03 lakh hectares of agricultural land has been irrigated by 2023 through the schemes of the irrigation department but currently 5.50 lakh hectares of agricultural land can be cultivated with the help of water supplied through the schemes of the irrigation department.

On the query of the number of irrigation projects under the Assam government, Singhal said that there are a total of 3,913 projects/schemes under the Irrigation Department. He said that details of the schemes are uploaded on the website of the Assembly "www.alaesession.org" as Article-1 as directed by the Assam Assembly. 

Of these schemes, 2004 schemes currently supply water to tarif and rabi crops. Details of the schemes are uploaded on the website of the Assembly "www.alaesession.org" as Article-2 as directed by the Assam Assembly. The cost of construction and maintenance of the projects is uploaded on the website of the Assembly "www.alaesession.org" as Article-1 as per the directives of the Assam Assembly as per the availability.

Replying to the query on the number of irrigation projects in Assam that are incomplete, the Assam irrigation minister said that a total of 1,585 schemes of the Irrigation Department of Assam are currently incomplete. Singhal further said that details of the schemes are uploaded on the website of the Assembly "www.alaesession.org" as Article-3 as directed by the Assam Assembly. It was also stated that efforts are being made to repair and activate the schemes in stages as per the allocation of funds in the appropriate categories.