Shillong, July 27: Just two days after Union Home Minister, Amit Shah had announced implementation of the Sohra Afforestation Project at Sderkariah-Khliehshnong, Sohra to be executed by the Assam Rifles, officials have clarified that the para-military force would not be associated with the project.
The Soil and Water Conservation Department had submitted a DPR projecting an amount of Rs 563 crore for the afforestation project, inaugurated by the Union Home Minister on Sunday last.
Declining a request to be named, a senior official told The Shillong Times on Tuesday that they had initially submitted the DPR to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) adding that the Ministry was supposed to release the funds to the department through Assam Rifles.
According to the official, Assam Rifles will no longer be involved in the project since the funding will either be from the Ministry of DoNER or the North Eastern Council (NEC).
The project will be implemented for a period of five years, the official said.
When asked about the statement made by the Union Home Minister about the involvement of Assam Rifles in the project, the official said that he (Shah) could be referring to another project which the MHA is planning to implement in Sohra.
“It is up to the residents of Sohra to decide if they will accept the project to be implemented by Assam Rifles. But as of now, we have no information about any such project,” the official said.
Moreover, the official also admitted that the Dorbar Khliehshnong Sohra had a discussion only with the Soil and Water Conservation Department and Assam Rifles had not spent anything for the inauguration of the afforestation project.
“All the funds which were expended for the inauguration have come from the state funds. We are yet to receive any funds from the Centre for this project,” the official said.
Earlier, Shah while addressing the audience after inaugurating the project had informed that the entire area of Sohra is going to be adopted by Assam Rifles for the purpose of plantation.
The Union Home Minister had also stated that the Meghalaya Government along with the DoNER Ministry in association with the NEC will transform 100 hectares of barren land in Sohra into a forest with an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore.
A senior official informed that they had proposed to plant around 1000 tree saplings during the inauguration of the Union Home Minister for this project.
“We also intend to plant broomsticks which are suitable to the area since the moisture content of the soil is very less. We are planning to use other techniques in this project,” he said.
“Initially the idea was to start plantations in an area of 100 hectares and now they are planning to carry out plantations in 10,000 hectares which include 120 villages in Sohra area. As per the survey, we are planning to cover 40,000 hectares and the plantation will be done in 10,000 hectares. We are planning to use tree saplings which are indigenous to Sohra. We cannot bring tree saplings from outside since they will not be suited to the area,” a senior official said.
Informing that the 40,000 hectares that is identified is barren land, the official said they cannot plant trees in all the 40,000 hectares since there will be plots which the villagers would require to utilise.
“It is because of this reason we have identified only 10,000 hectares to carry out the tree plantation,” the official said.
Replying to a query, he said that broomsticks have very short roots and they are unlikely to affect the underground water table.
“We have managed to get approval to plant broomsticks in an area of 78 hectares in East Khasi Hills during the current financial year. Most of the villages where we have planted broomsticks are in Sohra,” he informed.
According to the official, no one has carried out a detailed study on the benefits of the broomstick.
“Broomstick helps to prevent soil erosion. It can be planted in areas which receive a lot of rainfall and also in areas which are totally dry,” the official said.
He also informed that as per the proposal, they have earmarked funds to protect forest fires since that there is a tendency among the public to light fire in the forest areas during the dry season.
“The project will be handed over to the villages after a five year period and they will be responsible to conserve the forest. We will earmark funds for procurement of fire extinguishers and also deploy other strategies for protecting the forests. We will organise capacity building for all the 12 villages,” the official informed.
Despite being the wettest area, he observed that the Sohra plateau faces water shortage during the non-rainy seasons and the plateau has become a wet desert.
“High intensity and quantity rainfall on barren lands leads to severe soil erosion causing sedimentation in streams and other water bodies. Shallow depth of topsoil at many places is not conducive for vegetation growth other than grasses and small shrubs,” the official added.
It may be mentioned that the Union Home Minister had planted the Exbuckdia populnea (known as Pipli in Hindi and Diengdoh in Khasi) while Chief Minister had planted Betula alnoides (known as Bhojpatra in Hindi and Dienglieng in Khasi) after inaugurating the project.
Other species planted on the day of inauguration included Engelhertia spicata (known as Mauha in Hindi and Dieng lyba in Khasi) and Euginea jambolana (known as Jamun in Hindi and Diengsoh um in Khasi).
