Rajbiraj, June 12

Locals are relieved after they started collecting rainwater in Shambhunath Municipality in Saptari. Earlier, the people at the municipality had to face a severe water crisis.

Locals have constructed ponds at Kanakpatti and its surroundings to collect rainwater and the water has also helped irrigate the locality and help in the re-vegetation of the area. The locality has gone green after collection of rainwater started.

“We had been facing acute shortage of water after tube-wells and other water resources went dry,” said local Mohammad Rasul, adding, “However, the situation has changed.”

GTZ helped to construct three ponds aiming to conserve the rainwater of Chure area in 1996. The water crisis ended after rainwater started to accumulate in the ponds.

The locals have started cultivation of seasonal crops utilising the collected rainwater and construction of more ponds is under way in the municipality.

Khurhuriya Khola Conservation Pond Consumers Committee Chairman Tej Narayan Chaudhary said the collected rainwater made feasible several things in the locality. “The farmers also started seasonal farming,” he added.

District Soil Conservation Office, Saptari, had helped the consumer committee with about Rs 10 lakh for construction of the ponds in the area.

Chief at the office Bishnu Bahadur Bhandari said about 10 more ponds were being constructed for the collection of rainwater after assessing the utility of such ponds and the accumulated rainwater.