Four years, zero committees: Assam’s irrigation overhaul stalls as promises outpace reality

Guwahati: Four years after Irrigation Minister Ashok Singhal unveiled an ambitious plan to transform Assam’s irrigation landscape, most of the groundwork meant to support the expansion has not materialised, leaving farmers struggling with water scarcity and the state facing decades-long delays in achieving full irrigation coverage.

When Singhal took charge in 2021, he announced a massive goal: to bring 50,000 hectares of agricultural land under irrigation immediately and expand coverage to 1 lakh hectares within a year.

At a press conference on June 15 that year, he outlined a detailed monitoring system, committees at the block, district, and state levels, comprising officials from the agriculture, power, and soil conservation departments.

These bodies were to meet regularly, track irrigation delivery, and report directly to him.

However, RTI replies from multiple irrigation divisions across the state reveal a starkly different reality. Not a single block-level committee has been formed. Nor have district-level committees, except in Lakhimpur, which remains the lone exception.

By late 2022, executive engineers in Dibrugarh, Lahowal–Chabua, Naharkatia–Duliajan, Bhabanipur, Biswanath–Behali, Majuli, Sonari–Mahmara, Sarbhog–Jania, Barpeta–Baghbar, and Lakhimpur–Bihpuria–Baoboicha all responded to RTI queries stating unequivocally that no committees had been formed.

This stands in sharp contrast to the Irrigation Department’s own notification dated June 1, 2021, which mandated district-level committees chaired by Zila Parishad CEOs.

For many within the department, the promised committees have now become a “forgotten chapter.”

Even as these gaps persist, Singhal chaired a high-level review meeting on November 14 this year at Janata Bhawan, evaluating departmental progress with the Chief Engineer and senior officials.

He called for detailed irrigation plans for every district, year-round water availability data, accelerated project execution, and greater use of digital tools.

Officials presented PowerPoint updates and briefed him on externally aided projects, tender processes, and the new INNO App, which aims to streamline administrative functions.

Yet, despite these reviews and digital pushes, the fundamental monitoring architecture envisioned in 2021 remains missing, raising questions about how the department is tracking real-time field progress.

Assam’s irrigation story is one of ambitious targets repeatedly slowed by systemic bottlenecks. Of the state’s 27 lakh hectares of net sown area, only 11 lakh hectares currently have access to irrigation.

This means irrigation covers just 16% of the state’s 38 lakh hectares of gross sown area. For the majority of farmers, rainfall is still the only dependable water source.

This year’s weak monsoon has already left many cultivators unable to sow their paddy fields.

An official familiar with departmental assessments told this reporter that the pace of expansion is “far too slow” to meet the state’s agricultural goals. “

At this rate, it will take 20 years to cover the entire sown area,” the official said.

Assam currently has 3,913 irrigation schemes, but 1,585, nearly 40%, were non-functional as of December 2024. Officials said many require only minor repairs, but cite chronic fund shortages.

The roots of the problem run deeper than maintenance delays. For years, the department has been described as “contractor-centric,” with projects awarded without adequate feasibility checks. “Contractors benefited, not the farmers,” one official further admitted.

The department claims it has brought 11 lakh hectares under irrigation by 2024 and has prepared a staggered expansion plan that aims for full coverage by 2047:

• 2.30 lakh hectares (2024–2029)
• 3.06 lakh hectares (2029–2034)
• 3.68 lakh hectares (2034–2039)
• 4.25 lakh hectares (2039–2044)
• 2.68 lakh hectares (2044–2047)

Even if executed perfectly, the plan means the state will still require more than two decades to deliver universal irrigation access, a timeline critics say is too long for a state heavily dependent on agriculture.

Agriculture experts warn that without reliable irrigation, Assam’s goal of boosting cropping intensity and improving yields will remain out of reach. Erratic monsoons, rising climate unpredictability, and shrinking water availability have made farmers increasingly vulnerable.

“Irrigation is the foundation. Without it, everything else collapses,” an official said, adding that the required urgency is “simply lacking.”

As the government pushes ahead with its agricultural vision and digital reforms, the gap between promises and on-ground progress continues to widen.

With key monitoring committees still unformed and nearly 40% of schemes dysfunctional, the central question persists:

Can Assam’s farm sector truly advance if the irrigation system meant to support it remains unable to get off the ground?

The minister was not available for comment, and both WhatsApp messages and phone calls went unanswered.