For love of Loktak

Yambem Laba *

A Fisherman at Loktak :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

For Manipuris, Loktak is not just another lake. Its shores served as the cradle of Manipuri civilisation and it is revered as Loktak Lairembi or Godess Loktak. The legend of Khamba and Thoibi, eternal lovers who finally met and married in their seventh incarnation, also took place at Moirang on the shores of this lake. And it was at Moirang that Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army first unfurled the tri-colour on free Indian soil in June 1944. Then again, it is on the southwestern fringes of the lake that Keibul Lamjao National Park lies, the world's only floating wildlife sanctuary that is home to the rarest of all deer, the endangered Sangai (Cervus eldi eldi).

Some 30 km from Imphal, this 286 square km lake also provides water for the Loktak Hydel Project of the National Hydroelectric Project Corporation, generating 105 MW that feeds other North-eastern states apart from Manipur. It also serves as the breeding ground for a number of fisheries and provides about 60 percent of the state's fish demands.

Loktak is also fast becoming a tourist destination and, based on its rich biodiversity and socio-economic importance, it has been designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (it became a Ramsar site in 1990).

But all was not well. Reeling under severe pressure arising from anthropogenic activities, the problem was compounded by heavy deforestation as a result of both commercial logging and shifting cultivation in the catchment areas, which had given rise to heavy siltation. Adding to the woes was the proliferation of a floating biomass called phumdis.

Realising the importance and problems of Loktak, the state government, in 1986, constituted the Loktak Development Authority, the management of which was indeed a complex issue as the adjoining wetlands of Pumlem, Kharung and Ikop, with which Loktak has a close hydrological and ecological relationship, had to be tackled simultaneously.

According to Ngagom Sanajaoba, project coordinator of the LDA, while the earlier methodology of the LDA primarily viewed the problem as an engineering issue involving dredgers, weed harvesters and bulldozers, a paradigm shift occurred in 1997 when the Sustainable Development and Water Resources Management of Loktak Lake was initiated with funding from the India-Canada Environment Facility. The shift was towards ecological aspects on one hand and sustainable resources development and livelihood on the other. Emphasis also began to be laid on community development and participation, incorporating social institutions, scientific research and data base collection. Laboratories were soon installed to augment the effort.

The LDA also tied up with the Wetlands International South Asia and formulated a plan for conserving and managing Loktak and associated wetlands. It approached the Planning Commission even as the state government passed the Manipur Loktak Lake Protection Act 2006. The Planning Commission revised the Wisa project as, in between, Loktak had undergone a drastic ecological change. Much of the lake was covered by phumdis of both the natural variety as well as artificially laid growth for fishing called atha-phums.

So in 2008 the Planning Commission finally stepped in, with phumdi clearance accounting for 60 per cent of the project work, 25 per cent being devoted to catchment area preservation and biodiversity, water management and total sanitation accounting for the rest. The only problem was that implementation of the afforestation programmes and the construction of dry latrines and fish hatcheries had been given to the Forest, Public Health Engineering and Fisheries Department and the LDA had no say in implementation nor in monitoring progress.

Funds, although given through the LDA, often got trapped and siphoned off for other uses. The other problem, according to the 49-year-old Sanajaoba, was that the construction of the Loktak Hydro-electric Project, which initially was thought to be an agent of drying up the shore areas, had indeed worked in reverse, flooding over 10,000 hectares of agricultural land as water had to be retained for power generation, done through the Ithai barrage.

Summing up the LDA efforts, project director L Bhagaton Singh said the main problem he was facing today concerned evicting the 4,000-odd people who had made Loktak home by building houses over the phumdis. The Loktak Protection Act also clearly states that no human population can dwell on the lake itself as this disturbs the environment and pollutes the waterbody by way of washing/cleaning household utensils and defecation. According to Singh, 777 households were identified during the last survey, of which 519 households had received compensatory packages of Rs 40,000 to leave the lake and establish houses elsewhere. With 258 families yet to accept this offer, local electoral politics have crept in.

But there is hope. The other man who matters in selling Loktak Lake as a tourist destination is Thangjam Dhabali, president of the Manipur Tourism Forum, who also manages the state's top three hotels. According to him, all foreign and Indian tourists who come to Manipur would like to visit Loktak. Now with him at the helm of the tourist complex at Sendra Island in Loktak, visitors from outside have often skipped Imphal and proceed straight to Loktak to spend nights in the three cottages he has built there. Foreigners would fly in to Guwahati and, after visiting Kaziranga, would proceed to Imphal by road and then to Moreh and on to Mandalay in Myanmar. According to Dhabali, Maharastra, Gujarat and Bengal could provide a good market for Manipur tourism.

At Sendra Island, a minimum 200-300 local tourists come calling on a daily basis and the number swells to over 1,000 during the festive seasons. Dhabali's Sendra tourist complex, complete with a restaurant, has provided direct employment to the youth of the area and, indirectly, hundreds of others depend on the income generated from tourists thronging the area for the eateries, boat rides, et al.

Phumdi clearance is almost complete now and migratory birds have started returning in droves. According to Manipuri folklore, Loktak serves as Manipur's mirror. It is high time it was allowed to reflect brighter tomorrows.