The Rationale

Most of the rivers of the state have got sited up because of soil erosion and subsequent deposition due to long practice of shifting cultivation, destruction of forests and exposure of the surface devoid of any vegetation. The rivers of Tripura are all rain fed and  because of siltation of the river beds, they have become ephemeral in nature and can not  be used for the purpose of navigation. The inland water transport is almost absent. The magnitude of the problem could be gauged from the fact that a hydro electric power station is facing closure because of siltation in the water body and consequent fall in water retention capacity of the body itself.

Since the cover of vegetation in the upper reaches of the rivers are all gone, the rain water can not percolate into the ground and as a result there is no ground water recharge. The precious rain water is thus lost in the form of surface run off and consequent floods in the habitations which have come up in the valleys. Again, since the ground water recharge is poor there is risk of contamination of harmful chemicals and the capital city Agartala had witnessed a crisis when the only source of drinking water supply, river Howrah was contaminated by the efflux of a paint industry(February,07).

The only way out is thus to take up large scale Aforestation in the hills and to improve the quality of the forests with the active involvement of the people who live in and around the forest areas.