Throwing out the baby with bathwater
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 08, 2012 -
The existing condition of the Soil Testing Laboratory which is under the Agriculture Dept at Mantripukhri :: Pix - HL
The report on 'displacement' of eight offices of Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department, 14 offices of Agriculture Department and one office and other official quarters of the Veterinary Department from Mantripukhri area to pave way for construction of the Civil Secretariat complex reminds us of the German proverb,'das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten' whose idiomatic expression in English may be used as 'throwing out the baby with the bath water'.
According to the report, in addition to the offices of Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Deputy Director, Soil Surveyor, Processing Unit of Mag-Fruit Factory, Mushroom Unit, Farm Manager, Cartography Section, etc, which were functioning under the Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department, important part and parcel of Agriculture Department like the offices of Seed Analysis, Marketing Intelligence Officer, Cotton Development Officer, Sugarcane Development Officer, Central Seed Godown, Biological Control Laboratory, Soil Testing Laboratory, Seed Testing Laboratory, etc have been unceremoniously forced to shut down before their relocation at suitable sites so that a luxurious Civil Secretariat complex as part of the larger and ambitious Capital Project could come up. In the process, the existence of the two departments has been put at stake and many valuable assets liquidated.
Of course, there may be no rule which prohibits relocation of offices elsewhere. But the question is why not enough time and fund have been given for the purpose of relocating these offices at some suitable sites.
It has been alleged that the government took the decision of shifting the offices in haste and many of the officers were caught unaware of the decision until the notification was served to them from out of nowhere.
It is also funny to learn that for the relocation of the offices, the Government had the temerity of sanctioning only Rs 1 crore each, which is nothing but pittance.
To quote an official source, the amounts sanctioned by the government for the relocation of the offices was not even enough for construction of a poultry farm of the Veterinary Department.
More than the ethical issue centering around relocation of the offices, our attention has also been drawn specially to the 'displacement' of valuable samples of soil tested in different parts of the state, the seeds and mother plants collected from all around the globe.
These losses are something that could never be compensated or replaced so easily in years to come even if the displaced offices could be relocated successfully.
It may take years, nay, decades to collect the samples and refurbish the 'gene pool' of valuable plants that use to be the pride of poor farmers in the state for over 50 years.
But who cares ?
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.