Chaygaon: Centre of Excellence for Citrus Fruits Turns into Jungle

The inefficiency of Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora has led to the destruction of the agricultural projects which was started with crores of rupees. After Khetri and Ulubari's two projects which have been destroyed due to lack of maintenance and proper utilization, now came to light the project of Centre of Excellence for Citrus Fruits, Bamunigaon in Chaygaon, Kamrup district.

The project which was started in 2016 in 88 bighas of land for citrus fruits worth Rs. 5 crore has now turned into a jungle for lack of maintenance. The Centre of Excellence for citrus fruits has been started by the then Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Commissioner Kamalakanta Mittal. Although it was said that the area is very good for cultivation of citrus fruits and the centre will open a new direction for farmer of the locality, all went in vain as the centre has now turned into a jungle.

Other than the orange, lemon and nut trees which were cultivated in the very beginning, no new trees have been planted in the centre but due to the lack of water, fertilizer and maintenance the existing trees have dead and the numbers have decreased.  

According to reports, although three people were appointed for the maintenance of the project, only two is working now and out of these two persons, Bhadreswar Bodo is an employee of agriculture department while the other Arup Das is working against a minimum payment.

On the other hand, the electricity department has also disconnected the electricity of the park as the concerned department has failed to pay the electricity bill for months. The electricity department has disconnected the line as they have not received the bill of Rs. 2.5 lakhs for the first time and second time the connection has been disconnected for not paying an amount of Rs. 90,000.