Meet Laungi Bhuiyan, Gaya’s new Dashrath Manjhi, who carved out 3-km-long canal

A man has carved out a three-kilometre-long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to fields of his village, Kothilawa in Lahthua area of Gaya.

We all are aware how Dasrath Manjhi alone cut through the mountains to make a road , with his grit and determination , another man from Gaya has done something worth featuring and hogging the limelight.

Meet Laungi Bhuiyan

A man has carved out a three-kilometre-long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to fields of his village, Kothilawa in Lahthua area of Gaya. “It took me 30 years to dig this canal which takes the water to a pond in the village,” said Laungi Bhuiyan who has dug out the canal single-handedly in Gaya.

Who carved out 3-km-long canal

“For the last 30 years, I would go to the nearby jungle to tend my cattle and dig out the canal. No one joined me in this endeavour… Villagers are going to cities to earn a livelihood but I decided to stay back,” he added. Kothilwa village is surrounded by dense forest and mountains, about 80 km away from Gaya headquarters. This village is marked as a refuge for Maoists.

The main means of livelihood for the people here are farming and animal husbandry. During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow into the river which used to bother Bhuiyan following which he thought of carving out a canal.

He worked hard in order to save water coming from the mountains and utilise it. “He has been carving out the canal for the last 30 years that too single-handedly. This will benefit a large number of animals and to irrigate the fields as well. He is not doing it for his own benefit but for the entire area,” said Patti Manjhi, a local.

Ram Vilas Singh, a teacher who resides here praised Bhuiyan for benefiting the villagers and their fields. “A lot of people will benefit here. People are now getting to know him because of his work,” he added. (ANI)