Restoration of beauty and greenery of Sohra
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government has involved school students from various parts of Sohra while implementing the Centrally-sponsored project for the restoration of beauty and greenery of Sohra.
“The main purpose of involving students in this project was to help them to have a better understanding on the need to preserve the environment,” Principal Secretary of Soil and Water Conservation PBO Warjri said while speaking to reporters after the release of the Annual Report of the department here Monday.
It may be mentioned the annual report was released by Soil and Water Conservation Minister Prof RC Laloo.
Interestingly, he said, school children were being asked to go to the field to help in implementation of the project.
It may be recalled that the Union Government had allotted Rs 86 crore for restoring the beauty and greenery of Sohra.
Earlier, the State Government has been forced to make some changes in the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
The firm had proposed to bring specially designed water tank from Israel for the rain water harvesting project covering in 45 villages across Sohra.
The Planning Commission rejected this proposal on the ground that whooping Rs 50-60 crore would be required to bring these water tanks to India while the total project cost is only Rs 87.16 crore, an official said.
The Planning Commission is of the view that the State Government will not be able to implement some other proposals which are included in the DPR prepared by Israeli firm. The Plan panel has so far released a total amount of Rs 16 crore in connection with this project.
When asked about the present status of the project, Warjri said they have already planted around 1200 tree saplings in the five tree nurseries while adding that the department would start plantation of trees for restoring of the greenery of Sohra.
Besides this, he also informed that the department had already created 52 ponds for rain water harvesting in 45 villages across Sohra.
The State Government is contemplating to convert this project with the State flagship programme-Integrate Basin and Livelihood Programme so that sufficient fund could be made available.
The state government will have to complete Sohra greenery restoration project within 2015-2016 and the remaining fund will be released in phases for implementation of the project.
Meanwhile, a senior government official informed that a detail study was being conducted in 45 villages right from Mawkdok upto Laitkynsew to understand the ground realities so that the masses would be benefited from the project.
Sohra goes dry during the winter season though it usually receives heavy rainfall during the rainy season. The government is planning to take up a number of projects to encourage Sohra residents to go for rain water harvesting in order to tackle the problem of water scarcity during the winter season.
In order to arrest the receding green cover in Sohra, special kind of high-tech poly houses will be constructed for growing of horticulture seedlings, tree saplings. These high-tech poly houses ensure better and year-round production through computerized climate control and thereby maintain continuous supply to target markets.
A senior official said both foreign and domestic tourists visiting Sohra would be encouraged to plant trees and new tourist spots would be developed in the area to expand the area for plantation of trees.