AGARTALA, July 1 (TIWN): Keeping in view the frequent drying condition of the Saidra or the Haora which originates from the Baramura hills in central Tripura and flows through the foothills passing through important towns like Champaknagar, Jirania, Khumulwng, Khayerpur and the capital city Agartala before reaching Bangladesh, the Tripura government had planned to transport water from the Gomati river, which is 70-km away, through a water pipeline here at Agartala to meet the water shortage faced by people in Agartala city, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday inaugurating the 66th State Level Vanamahotsav at Jirania. CM along with Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Sanatan Talukder and other senior officials of forest department on Wednesday visited the catchment site of river Haora prior to the inauguration of the 66th State Level Vanamahotsav at Jirania.Sarkar was addressing the celebration programme of Vanamahotsav at Jirania on Wednesday said, “There is a need to save the State’s giant river River Haora to meet the shortage of water.” Adding to that Sarkar urged the people from Agartala to Champaknagar to save the river because the only check dam process would not help the river but also there is an urgent need of cooperation of the common people of the state as the river Haora is the main source of water for the Tripura capital.

Sarkar said, “This Haorah Catchment Area Development project also provides for various soil and moisture conservation measures including check dams of various designs, river training, etc to ensure water retention and availability in the river course and its tributaries throughout the year.”

Besides CM Manik Sarkar on Wednesday also stated, “As an alternate to the river Haora and in view of the dry up condition of the river the state government had planned to transport water from Gumati river, which is 70-km away, through a water pipeline to meet the water shortage faced by the people in Agartala.”

 Saying that the main theme of this years’ Vanamahotsav is “Save Haora” Sarkjar said that this festival has gained immense national importance and every year, millions of saplings are planted all across India in observation of the Van Mahotsav week.

The relevance of festivals like Vanamahotsava is increasing by the day. It was the vision and wisdom of the great leader that the issue of environmental degradation was made a national concern knowing well that unless timely action was taken to prevent and restore, it might go beyond human control and would threaten the survival of any living organisms on this earth planet.

“Earlier before the Left front government here in Tripura the forest authorities battled against the common people in the name of the forest conservation which was highly unacceptable for ther present government here,” Sarkar adding said, “The Forest department on its ambitious plan to constitute Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) has gained a momentum.”

Sarkar also said, “The Forest department so far has constituted 1000 JFMC with an aim to cover at least 1 lakh families where the families can cultivate 25 to 27 hectares of land and live their livelihood.”

The Joint Forest Management programme was initiated in Tripura in December, 1991 and since then there has been reasonable progress in involving the people living around the forests to protect and improve the forests and in their share the benefits there from.