Imphal, August 10: Sugnu legislator K Ranjit has earmarked Rs 2 crores from his MLA local area development fund for drilling tube wells to provide sufficient water for cultivation in the paddy fields of Sugnu kendra.
Ranjit expressed his decision while attending the inauguration of two community halls in succession and a tree plantation programme at Kakching Khunou approach road in the Kakching Khunou Umathel area today.
Today, the people of Kakching Khunou including local women folks, students and police personnel have planted around 2000 trees along the approach road of Kakching Khunou covering around one and a half kilometres from 4:30 am to 8 am, he said.
Maintaining that tree plantation is easy but preserving fully grown trees are difficult, he said the responsibility for maintaining tress till they reach maturity must be taken by the people themselves.
Growing trees are important today in the context of global climate change, he said, adding, “We know that the degradation of forest in the world and felling of trees have an impact on the ecological balance of the globe.”
Emphasising that as a result we need to grow more trees to replace the fallen trees, Ranjit said due to climate change people face serious problems during cultivation.
Now, paddy could not be cultivated in 80 percent of the paddy fields in Sugnu kendra due to scarcity of water in the agricultural land, he added.
If this trend continues, we can’t survive in the next 20 to 30 years, Ranjit said.
Stressing that there will be no scarcity of water for agriculture throughout the year if tube wells are installed in all the paddy fields of Sugnu kendra, he said that’s why he has decided to install at least one tube well in every paddy field of Sugnu kendra for farmers on a trial basis.
Ranjit assured the people of Umathel and the farmers and people residing in other parts of Sugnu kendra that if the trial proves successful he will earmark at least two crores rupees from his MLA Local Area Development Fund for drilling such tube wells in the paddy fields.
It will be done with the intention of the farmers not having to face water scarcity problem in the future, he said, adding that the project will be a part of turning Sugnu into a model kendra in the State.
