Several flagship schemes of the Telangana government, including Mission Kakatiya, three acres of land for Dalit families and others may be hit due to the shortage of technical staff in the Groundwater Department.
The technical staff in the department such as hydrologists, hydro-geologists and geo-physicists hold the key in studying the impact of the restoration of minor irrigation tanks and identifying suitable spots for sinking tube wells. Their study and reports on the positive impacts of Mission Kakatiya, particularly improvement in the groundwater table, would become imperative in preparing reports on savings in the usage of energy to pump groundwater and the resultant accumulation of carbon credits.
In Khammam district, groundwater management has been plagued by acute shortage of technical staff as the available hands have been entrusted with multifarious tasks. Of the 17 sanctioned technical posts, 14 posts of assistant hydro geologists, assistant geophysicists and hydrologists (civil engineering) and assistant engineer (civil/mechanical) have been lying vacant for long.
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According to official sources, only three employees have been carrying out collection and dissemination of hydrological data and are monitoring the groundwater table besides conducting feasibility studies. “We have sent proposals to the government for filling vacancies in the department here,” Deputy Director of Groundwater Department P. Veera Somaiah said.
The situation in Adilabad district is no different with the vacancy of hydrologists and geo-physicists curtailing the impact studies on groundwater in the wake of de-siltation of tanks under Mission Kakatiya. “We have selected only three tanks for the impact study due to shortage of hands though 769 tanks have been taken up under the programme in the first phase,” revealed Adilabad Deputy Director of Groundwater Department G. Kumaraswamy.
One post each of assistant hydrologist, assistant geophysicist and hydrologist are vacant, besides the post of assistant engineer (civil). It has limited the involvement of the department in Mission Kakatiya as it has selected only three “convenient” sites for the impact study.
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In spite of six vacancies for geologists in Medak district, Deputy Director John Satyaraj is confident of meeting the work demand for the Mission Kakatiya and other programmes. He was quick to add that there was not much demand from farmers, seeking their suggestion for digging bore wells.
In Nalgonda district, the groundwater department is not in a position to deliver according to the demand as they are overburdened with work from allied departments in addition to their regular tasks. According to official sources, the department has been directed to select one open well each near every minor irrigation tanks that has been taken up for restoration under Mission Kakatiya to monitor groundwater table for one year.
However, the department has only one assistant hydrologist against the sanctioned strength of five. Out of a total 27 sanctioned posts across all hierarchies, 15 are vacant. The technical staff of the department is also assigned to check the groundwater status in the identified lands to be distributed to SCs and STs.
(With inputs from P. Sridhar (Khammam), S. Harpal Singh (Adilabad), R. Avadhani (Sangareddy) and T. Karnakar Reddy (Nalgonda)