Correspondent
PASIGHAT, 13 Apr: To minimise the rate of loss and damage to their wet cultivation site, caused by recurring floods, the farmers of Borguli village in Mebo in East Siang district have taken up flood protection work voluntarily.
About 60 affected farmers, who possess cultivated land at the ‘Kongkin Rikyu’ WRC field, are making efforts to protect their wet cultivation site from the grip of the Siang River during the monsoon season.
The farmers’ group, led by progressive farmer Joito Tayeng, informed that they are erecting flood bunds using bamboo and locally available woods and trying to divert the water flow of the river.
“We do not wait for government support to prevent the flood wave because flood-protection schemes supported by the government become late every year,” Tayeng said.
Tayeng, however, stressed the necessity of government schemes for construction of boulder bunds to protect the Kongkin Rikyu WRC fields from the grip of the Siang River.
“We are demanding that the state government sanction adequate funds for flood control schemes in Mebo on the left bank of the Siang River,” he added.
It may be recalled that recurring floods triggered by the mighty Siang and its tributaries wash away vast areas of wet cultivation (sali paddy) in lower Mebo area every year. Recurring flood and soil erosion posed by the rivers have already gripped several hundred hectares of fertile land in the area in the last decade.
