Minister asserts need for rainwater harvesting

Speaking to reporters on the eve of the World Water Day, Lyngdoh said although the state is blessed with so much rainfall yet is facing a huge shortage of water in many places.

“Therefore, it is my personal opinion that if we can harvest this rainwater, we can solve the water crisis in the state of Meghalaya. In order to do that, we must construct multiple check dams in many rivers to protect them from freely going to Bangladesh,” he said.

“By constructing check dams in many rivers, we can ensure to have sufficient water in many places, which would be one of the solutions to ensure we get water. Otherwise, there are many schemes in the PHE department that have to be abandoned because of the sources getting dried up,” he added.

Emphasizing the importance of protecting the forest in and around the catchment area, Tongkhar said the village authorities should take ownership of the catchment areas by not allowing people from that village to destroy the forests in and around the catchment areas.

“It is the urgent need of the hour that the village authorities should come forward and make a resolution among themselves without being influenced by anybody, that they will not encroach into the catchment area because water is life for everybody,” he stated.

Tongkhar informed that he had also raised the issue during the recently held Conference of the North East PHE Ministers chaired by the Union Jal Shakti Minister at Guwahati on the need to preserve the catchment area and importance of rainwater harvesting in Meghalaya, a state which received the highest rainfall.

“I will also pursue this with the chief minister and I will throw this idea if we can do it from PHE or Water Resources. By doing that we will not only get water for drinking but we will attract tourists to those people as when you dam it will attract people to go for sightseeing to all those places,” he said.

Tongkhar also assured, “I will discuss with the CM from which department we will send the proposal whether the proposal will be from the PHE or water resources. If it is to be done from PHE we will not further delay. I hope that by the beginning of the next financial year, we will be able to send a proposal if it can be done from the PHE department.”

When asked, the PHE Minister informed that the department has already initiated work to provide drinking water to over 5.32 lakh out of 5.89 lakh households targeted to be completed this year.

By Our Reporter