IMPHAL, April 26: People of Sekmai are reaping the benefits of conserving the catchment area of forest since the last couple of years even as water scarcity is affecting the state.
Sekmai has also been hit by the water scarcity problem but it’s not severe as in other places. People are buying water for cooking and drinking purposes but for other household purposes they use water from the well and a small stream in the area.
According to Chandramani, a resident of Sekmai, in comparison to previous years, the acute shortage of water is a little better now. Last year, the well in Sekmai dried up and people had to face an acute shortage of water.
“This year, the water levels of wells rise to a usable level. We used enough well water for construction of building houses and other business purposes. We are reaping the benefits of putting restrictions on extraction of sand and stones from quarries in the Imphal river bed since June 1 last year.”
Besides, the Sekmai Protection Committee is taking due care of the reserved forest area of Nongpok Ningthou Ching, he added.
The President of Sekmai Protection Committee Angom Rajesh told IFP that since the last 15 years the reserved forest was handed over to the development committee after an understanding between Sekmai Schedule Cast Development Committee and the forest department.
“Now, the forest area has expanded to the hills and water from a few small springs were discovered which is something unusual during the last four five years in the foothills of Nongpok Ningthou Ching. Unfortunately, some individuals cut down tress illegally which is why we are still facing some problem. If we have complete control over the cutting down of trees in the next five years, we believe that Sekmai will not face such acute shortage of water.”
He also appealed to the people of Sekmai and surrounding areas to understand the activities of the committee and stop collecting firewood from the forest if they don’t want a water scarcity problem in future.
Meanwhile, the only LPG bottling plant of the state in Sekmai Nongthomban was not spared by the water scarcity problem. People living in surrounding areas of the plant have apprehensions about some untoward incident happening in the future due to the acute lack of water in the bottling plant.
However, according to an official source, at least two tanks of water are used every day in the bottling plant.
There is no need for any apprehension by the people because the plant has enough water to prevent any untoward incident. The plant has two reserved water tanks. If the time comes the plant will stop immediately because human life is more important, he added.
Official source said further that a memorandum has been submitted to PHED for arrangement of water supply to the plant in January but till now there is no response from them. In this regard, a reminder was sent on Saturday and today we will meet the chief engineer of PHED officially.