Forest conservation pays dividends

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 3: Years of forest conservation on the adjoining hill ranges of Kameng village within Langol Reserved Forest has paid rich dividends as is evident in the perennial and abundant availability of water in the village.
One Ngangom Megha of Kameng Awang Leikai told The Sangai Express that the adjoining hill ranges of Kameng looked all bare and there were few trees around 1975-76.
At that time, cattle and dogs moving on the hill ranges could be seen from below, he said.
Taking serious note of the highly denuded situation of the hill ranges, the villagers pondered over how to rejuvenate the hill ranges and their forest cover.
A committee was formed and it started tree plantation campaigns on the hill ranges, Megha said.
Some time later, the committee joined hands with the Forest Department and the tree plantation campaign was intensified.
Over the years, trees started thriving on the hill ranges and lush green forests once again adorn the once bare hill ranges, he said.
After the village committee tied up with the Forest Department, a Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) was formed in 2015.
With big and majestic trees now thriving on the hill ranges, many springs came alive and they became a perennial source of water for Kameng and adjoining villages, Megha said.
To store the water collected from the springs, two water storage tanks were built on Kameng hill under the Spring Water Harvesting and Sustainable Water/Forest Conservation Project in 2020 with a loan from ICICI Bank, he said.
Two more water tanks were built at Kameng village and these tanks are filled with water stored in the hill-top tanks. Thus the villagers get abundant water throughout the year, Megha said.
He said that Kameng village has around 210 households with a population of a little over 1500.
After the water tanks were built with loans from ICICI Bank, maintenance is done with money contributed by villagers, he added.
Since the establishment of Kameng village, its residents were dependent on the water of the small river flowing in the foothills for all their domestic requirements.
There is an old water supply scheme of PHED at Kameng but no villager has received a single glass of water from the water supply plant, he said.
One Forest official said that the adjoining forests of Lamdeng, Khamram and Kameng which fall under Langol Reserved Forest are well protected and they are all lush green.
In 1975, very few trees grew on these hills. It was the villagers themselves which started a mission to rejuvenate the dying forests and the high denuded hill ranges, he said.
The hill ranges which were once completely bare are now covered with thick green efforts because of the consistent efforts of villagers, the Forest official said.
In consultation with the Forest Department, the villagers of Lamdeng, Khamram and Kameng formed their own Joint Forest Management Committees in 2015.
These committees, in association with the Forest Department, have been planting trees from time to time. Generally, a tree sapling becomes mature or fully grown in seven years. With the trees now fully grown, the hill ranges are covered with lush green forest, and they are generating many springs, the Forest official said.
Like in Kameng, water tanks have been built at Lamdeng too with financial assistance from ICICI Foundation, he said.
The work of connecting the water tanks built atop the nearby hill and the ones built at Lamdeng village is now going on, he said.
If anyone cuts down the trees, the concerned JFMC and the Forest Department award befitting punishment as per law.
In case of wildfires during dry and windy seasons, the JFMCs and the Forest Department work together with the Fire Services.
Langol Reserved Forest covers the hill ranges from Iroisemba to Pheidinga and its total area is 17 Sq Kms, the official added.