Bihar undertakes water conservation with afforestation
PATNA: Concerned over depleting water resources due to soaring population, Bihar government has undertaken an exercise to conserve water along with large scale afforestation. The forest department is carrying out the exercise of water harvesting on mountains by building small structures, secretary environment and forest Dipak Kumar Singh said. The task had been successfully carried out in Gaya, Rajgir, Banka, Rohtas, Kaimur and Jamui having large forest cover alongside mountains, he said. Singh said that since the mountains were near the town, the ground water level was likely to improve in Gaya and Rajgir in next 2-3 years. In Gaya, building of structures had been done on four mountains including Ramshila surrounding the town. In Rajgir, the same had been done on five mountains including Vaibhavgiri, Udaigiri and Vipulgiri, the secretary said. Singh said that in Banka, due to construction of Bounsi dam, the ground water availability in the nearby fields of farmers had increased. Sour