Politician dreams green dreams for Pughoboto

EMN Dimapur, April 13 The minister for roads and bridges has a hope to transform the sleepy subdivision of Pughoboto, under Zunheboto district, into a green zone where conservation and biodiversity become a catchword of community action. Minister for Roads & Bridges, and the representative of the constituency, Y Vikhiho Swu, expressed said hope during a recent meeting. The monthly meeting of the Pughoboto Sub-divisional Planning and Development Board for the month of April was conducted in the community hall at Ghathashi village on Tuesday, April 12. During the meeting, the minister for Roads & Bridges, and the lone legislative member of the constituency Y Vikhiho Swu, expressed a hope to ‘develop’ the Pughoboto areas into what he called a “green area.” Swu, also the chairman of the board, urged the community to conserve the area’s forest ‘in order to maintain ecological balance.’ Talking about a tree plantation program scheduled to be undertaken in the next month of May, Swu said that various saplings had been arranged for the plantation drive. He announced to the gathering that a self-help group under the National Rural Livelihood Mission will be launched soon for the welfare of the local community. The minister has requested all the representatives from the 24 villages of the area to cooperate and ‘maintain conducive environment in order to bring development.’ The politician also underlined the need to ‘expand the town so as to accommodate others tribes as well as to promote other developmental activities.’ The minister has directed the subdivision’s education officer to ‘bring all the schools’ status report of existing teachers and shortage.’ He also assigned the SDO (public health engineering) to submit to the next meeting a status report of water supply pipeline connections in the entire village. During discussions, the subdivision education officer of Pughoboto, Watisangla, informed to members of the board that the government high school of Pughoboto had been selected for upgrade to higher secondary school. Other agendas during the meeting included an HSLC examination centre for Pughoboto, and a ‘town face lift.’ Officers from the agriculture and development blocks, and power division also highlighted their departments’ activities. Several other issues were deliberated during the meeting. The issues included electrification, problems in education institutions, matters about roads and bridges, establishment of a veterinary centre. The board’s meeting was followed by a public meeting “to maintain public coordination for the process of developmental activities.” Nagaland is very rich in bio-diversity, both flora and fauna. Even today some pockets of forests are covered with gigantic trees, where sun-rays cannot penetrate. Due to reckless and uncontrolled cutting of trees for timber, firewood, continued Jhum cultivation and annual fire in vast tracts of land, forests got degraded and barren, which accelerated diminishing of the most of the original characteristics of the forests. (Source: Nagaforest.nic.in)