Control Yuan members yesterday criticized three Cabinet officials for failing to respond early enough to warnings of an impending drought and failing to develop and protect water resources appropriately.
The Control Yuan yesterday held a meeting attended by Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫), Executive-General of the Cabinet's Drought Disaster Relief Center Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪), Council of Agriculture Chairman Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) and approximately 10 other officials from subordinate bureaus to report on the handling of the drought.
The hearing's aim was to gather evidence to decide whether to launch a further investigation, which could result in the Cabinet ministers being punished.
Lin said that because of inconsistent weather forecasts, the drought contingency system had not functioned well.
He did not elaborate, but said, "The most important thing for the time being is increasing water storage capacity and coordination of the water supply."
Lin denied that the Ministry of Economic Affairs had been slow to announce plans to leave land fallow. He said that since the ministry became aware of the drought only at the end of February, "announcing that the plans would take effect from March 1 was reasonable."
There are widespread suspicions that the ministry was not sufficiently concerned in January, ignoring warnings from subordinates which resulted in farmers' losses when land was ordered to be left fallow.
Kuo denied that the Cabinet had implemented emergency measures too late.
"We did more than adhere to the relevant regulations, setting up the drought disaster center even before the seriousness of the drought had reached the level stated by the regulations," she said.
According to current regulations, the Cabinet must set up a drought disaster center when the shortage of tap water exceeds 30 percent of the quantity required to meet demand, or reservoirs are only 50 percent full.
Kuo said that the center was set up on May 1 under the orders of Premier Yu Shyi-kun, before the seriousness of the drought had reached the level of seriousness at which the regulations required that it be set up.
Control Yuan members put it to the officials, however, that, despite the regulations, they should have responded more quickly. Control Yuan member Huang Shou-kao (黃守高) criticized the officials for following the "inflexible regulations" while ignoring the fact that the drought was worsening all the time.
Another member, Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平), yesterday echoed Huang's comments
"The slow response has damaged the rights and welfare of the public," Chao said.
In addition, aiming at improving the problems posed by insufficient reserves of water, Control Yuan member Ma Yi-kung (馬以工) suggested that building water reservoirs is not the best solution.
She also called for more effort to be invested in the desalination of seawater as a long-term goal to replenish water resources.
The Control Yuan will deliberate further before deciding whether to launch a full investigation.
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