BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 29th December 2025: The present government wants sustainable development and is working in this direction. For this, storing rainwater and planting more trees are essential, and the present government is actively working towards these goals.
This was informed by Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath today while inaugurating the Watershed Management Festival 2025 in the area adjacent to the Tara Sundari Dam at Mohanpur, Taranagar.
He said that the Earth has three parts water and one part land, which means there should be no water crisis. However, despite this, we are facing a water crisis. Experts have warned that a third world war could occur due to water scarcity in near future.
“This programme is for those states and areas where cultivation depends on rainwater and where water cannot be stored properly. Without proper storage, agriculture is not possible. Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan are using nearly 100 percent of their groundwater and are now facing water crises. West Bengal uses 52 percent and Assam 15 percent, while Tripura uses around 9 percent. Though we currently do not face a crisis, if we fail to store water properly for future generations, there will be problems. If farmers do not cultivate crops, then where will people get food from? Even if we earn lakh rupees, if farmers do not cultivate anything, what will we do?” said the Minister.
The Minister informed that this is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been giving special emphasis to agriculture and considers farmers as god.
“Both the Central and State governments are giving priority to agriculture. Earlier, no Prime Minister gave such importance to farmers as PM Modi has. The government is working for four sections—farmers, youth, women and the poor. If we work for them, we can achieve Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat. To store rainwater, we must dig ponds and create water bodies. We also need to plant more trees. Due to deforestation, floods are occurring,” said the Agriculture Minister.
The Minister informed that Watershed Management Plan Phase-II started in 2021–22, and in Tripura, among the 18 subdivisions, there are 48 schemes.
“After March 2026, Phase-III of the project will begin. We have to restore this Tara Sundari Dam canal. There is a plan to develop this entire area as a watershed zone along with eco-tourism facilities, open gyms and other amenities. The main aim of the watershed scheme is afforestation, creation of water bodies and water storage. So far, we have constructed 181 check dams, 1,014 ponds, 44 Amrit Sarovars, restored 135 ponds, built 6,992 meters of irrigation channels and planted new trees over 1,400 hectares. Many governments were in power earlier but did not take steps for this canal. Our government wants sustainable development. Agriculture is the main foundation. If we cut one tree, we must plant ten more trees,” said the Minister.
