Brahmaputra Board grapples with mismanagement & manpower shortage

Guwahati, Nov 8: The Brahmaputra Board, which was established under an Act of Parliament for flood and erosion control in the Northeast, is barely functioning today, hamstrung as it is by a severe shortage of technical manpower and mismanagement.

The Brahmaputra Board, a statutory organisation under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, was created in 1983 for the preparation of flood- and erosion-control master plans for the north-eastern region. It has so far prepared over 50 master plans with its own manpower after collecting field data.

Shockingly, recruitment in the Board at all levels had stopped long back, resulting in a perennial manpower crisis. Of particular concern has been the large-scale absence of engineers who are critical to the very existence of the organisation.

"It's a very depressing situation, with the Board on the verge of collapse now. The higher authorities in the ministry are hardly initiating any corrective measures for reasons best known to them," official sources told The Assam Tribune.

A sudden shift in the recruitment process since 2021-22 has apparently made things worse instead of improving. The shift to recruit manpower through SSC and UPSC (from the extended list of UPSC only) resulted in people from outside the Northeast with no knowledge of the region get- ting appointed.

"While many were simply not interested to work in the region and whimsically left, many others applied for other jobs and left as well. As for the Grade IV and clerical cadre personnel recruited through SSC exams, almost the entire manpower was from outside the Northeast and not accustomed to the ground reality. Most of these employees were overqualified for their posts and they invariably leave after getting better jobs elsewhere," sources said.

All-India recruitments for other Central departments and agencies cannot be equated with that for the Brahmaputra Board, as posting is restricted only to the Northeast in the latter. Therefore, a separate recruitment policy for the Board with a thrust on appointing people from the region will be ideal, sources reasoned.

The promotion policy of the Board has been another bane for the organisation, with a majority of the earlier employees retiring without a single promotion. "Some got promoted after completion of over 30 years of continuous service. This stagnancy created a big vacuum at different levels and the whole organisation is suffering," sources added.

In another move inimical to the Board's future, NE- HARI (North Eastern Hydraulic and Allied Research Institute), a part of the Brahmaputra Board having a fully-equipped laboratory for testing all building materials, river model study and training facility, is on the verge of being handed over to the Tezpur-based NERIWALM, a small training institute under the same ministry.

Terming this development as defying reason, sources said that the move was akin to trying to make a river flow in the opposite direction, i.e., from the sea to the hill!

"It will be highly beneficial for both the organisations if NERIWALM works under the umbrella of Brahmaputra Board, which has a very big and wide establishment compared to NERIWALM- rather than the other way around," sources added.

Sources also suggested certain measures to overcome the problems faced by the Board and streamline its functioning. These include having a large share of employees from the Northeast only in view of the peculiarity of the Board's mandate in the region; stopping the recruitment of all cadres through SSC and UPSC, and reverting to the earlier practice of recruiting all the personnel by the Board itself through written and oral tests; and fixing the criteria/qualifications for different posts and not encouraging overqualified personnel.

After selection, the per- son should be made to sign a bond for at least five years in line with the earlier practice, sources added. "The administration should have faith in the regular employees of the Board from all categories and include them in discussion for development of the Board before implementing any decision," sources said.

By-

Sivasish Thakur