Address core issues for pollution of Nambul river
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 13, 2023 -
YET again, the public have been warned against dumping garbage into the Nambul river, and only time will tell what follow-up measures the government authorities would initiate to deter the people from defying the latest announcement made by chief minister N Biren.
Every time when events related to water and environmental pollution are observed, government representatives make it a point to refer to Nambul river as the testament of lack of , civic sense and decorum among the people.
In fact, there have been few cases of individuals detained and slapped monetary fine for dumping garbage into the river or piling household waste on the roadside, but only to see repeat of the same unethical practice as is evident from waste piling up along the road stretch from Keishampat to Khoyathong.
It is also worth noting that anti-dumping campaigns are most intense when new chairperson of the Manipur Pollution Control Board is appointed with the semblance of vigorousness fizzling out after few days or weeks.
The general line of excuse for inefficiency of the Board is that it lacks manpower and resources to prevent air, land and water pollution.
Therefore, checking pollution of the Nambul river or any other rivers flowing through the densely populated Imphal areas will depend on firm resolve of the Board to warrant its existence instead of finding self-justification for its inaction.
As the population will only increase it is obvious that absence of an effective mechanism, including installation of sizeable dumping bins and their timely collection/disposaI will aggravate the situation as it would be wishful thinking for all the citizens to act sanely.
With many households in Imphal area inaccessible to waste collection vehicles, it is but natural that residents might be tempted to randomly dump garbage.
Nevertheless, unlike in the past when waste materials of all shapes and sizes used to be piled up for days in every corner of the Ima Keithel and adjoining commercial zones including along the Nambul and Nagamapal rivers, there has been some semblance of cleanliness in these areas with exception of the Nagamapal side of the market where random dumping continues.
With the historic Ima Keithel included in the must-visit list of individual and group tourists, coupled with beautification of the main market area, there has been some signs of positive changes among the citizens as well as the Imphal Municipal Corporation due to installation of dust bins and periodical collection of waste.
However, similar initiatives seem to be lacking with regard to checking pollution of the Nambul river for river clean-up programmes and campaigns usually take place in the run-up and during events of national and international importance and high-profile visits to the state, which the chief minister also endorsed during the death anniversary observance of Maharaj Narasingh on Tuesday, wherein he stated that BjP workers cleaned Nambul river ahead of the Femina Miss India Grand Finale with the objective to show a neat and clean Manipur.
Thus, it is desired that instead of event-specific campaigns to clean the Nambul river, the government frame long-term policy and implement the same effectively so as to protect the ecosystems, provide us with clean air, fresh water, food, resources and medicine.
It needs no reminding that healthy ecosystems have usually been resilient enough to adapt to gradual environmental change and preserving the same will help lessen the impact from the impending global warming phenomenon.
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