The National Self-help Group Against Disbanding Irrigation Associations yesterday called on the National Human Rights Committee to launch an investigation into allegations that the Agency of Irrigation has unilaterally registered private property of irrigation associations as state-owned land.
The Legislative Yuan in July passed the third reading of a bill to convert the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into a government body, despite opposition from some farmers who described the move as “seizing associations’ assets under the guise of upgrading them into a government body.”
There are 17 irrigation associations nationwide and one joint association in Taichung, and their total assets are valued at about NT$75.6 billion (US$2.62 billion).
Photo: CNA
The Agency of Irrigation, which was inaugurated last month, is tasked with overseeing the irrigation associations, which have nearly 1.5 million members.
Protesters yesterday cited Academia Sinica’s Institutum Iurisprudentiae associate research professor Wu Tzung-mou (吳宗謀), who in an opinion piece said that it might be illegal for the Ministry of the Interior to waive the requirement of presenting land deeds when registering irrigation association property as state-owned assets.
National Self-help Group Against Disbanding Irrigation Associations convener Huang Chin-chun (黃金春) said: “Article 23 of the Irrigation Act (農田水利法) allows the state to take over private property, and frees it from going through proper channels or paying for the property, which is no better than in communist countries.”
Huang accused the Agency of Irrigation for failing to live up to the spirit under which it was founded, which is providing better management for irrigation water.
Early last month, the agency cut off irrigation to 19,000 hectares of farmland across Taoyuan, and Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, just as the rice harvest season is approaching, Huang added.
In the past, the irrigation associations negotiated water usage on behalf of the farmers with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council of Agriculture and industrial sector representatives, but that function has been taken away, Huang said.
“The farmers are without a representative regarding water rights and have become the first to be sacrificed,” Huang said.
The government must aggressively pursue more inclusive policies and address frequent water shortages due to changing weather patterns, instead of cutting off the water supply to farmers, Huang said.
If the Agency of Irrigation does not want to become the agency known for diverting water from agriculture to other sectors, it had better address the issue of industry always being the priority during water shortages, Huang added.
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