Water conservation dept awaiting transfer of personnel for 8 yrs
Eight years since the Maharashtra agriculture department was divided to carve out the water conservation department, the transfer of nearly 9,000 personnel from the parent department to the new one is yet to be completed.
Citing shortage of workforce, the agriculture department has shown reluctance to release even 2,000 personnel as per the new demand. The shortage is likely to affect the ongoing work of on-site inspection of water conservation structure, which is also a part of the third version of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ' pet project Jalyukta Shivar, aimed to improve water availability through artificial farm ponds, deepening river beds, and constructing check dams to boost water percolation.
In 2017, the water conservation department was carved out as an independent department. Then Minister of State (Home) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ram Shinde, was elevated as cabinet minister to head the new department. After the formation of the new department, the state cabinet approved for transferring 9,000 officials. However, the decision was never implemented.
'After several rounds of discussions, the Water Conservation Department agreed to a compromise of receiving 2,000 staff, but even that has not been completed,' another official from the water conservation department said.
With no clear resolution in sight, the senior official from the water conservation department indicated that the ministry might need to redraw its staffing structure and begin fresh recruitment. 'This will be a long process, and until then, many of the department's works could be severely impacted,' he added.
Under the third version of Jalyukta Shivar, the water conservation department is being tasked to physically verify around 14 lakh water conservation structures constructed from 1972 till 2022 that are mapped by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC). The work is yet to begin.
'There are around 27,000 sanctioned posts in the agriculture department, but only 19,000 are filled. If 9,000 staff members are transferred, the department would be severely crippled,' a senior official from the agriculture department said.
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