Loktak Lake in peril as discourses continue
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 19, 2023 -
YET again, another discourse aimed at saving the Loktak Lake from further degeneration was held on Monday wherein Loktak Development Authority (LDA) chairman M Asnikumar cited anthropogenic or human activities as one of the factors for the gradual deterioration of the lake's eco-system.
The 'One-day Stakeholders' Consultative Meeting on the Loktak Lake' organised jointly by the LDA, which is mandated to oversee projects for improvement of the lake's condition, and Manipur Technology Innovation Hub in collaboration with University of Nottingham, United Kingdom also had experts from both the premier Indian technical institutions and abroad sharing their views and suggestions on conservation of the largest fresh water body in the northeast region.
In his address, Asnikumar lamented that the lake is under serious threatfrom anthropogenic activities such as encroachment, pollution and various unplanned developmental activities in and around the lake.
Of the three reasons specified, there is no valid reason to hold encroachers accountable for the lake losing its pristineness considering the fact that the government authorities have been conducting eviction drives periodically.
In case there are still unauthorised structures or prohibited activities in-spite of the preventive measures being taken up by the government, then it is high time to concede that the drive or campaign hadn't been effective enough.
For the record, some five years back the government used police force to dismantle and torch huts of fishing folks built on the floating biomass consequently displacing hundreds of families whose only source of livelihood used to be fishing and gathering water plants from the lake.
Though the eviction drive was carried out on the ground that the thatched huts were reprehensible to sight and sense with the settlers also accused of polluting the lake, the displaced fishing community and environmentalists had been sticking to their point that construction of the Ithai Barrage for the Loktak hydro power project is the primary reason for the deterioration of the lake and its ecosystem.
Apart from decrying deprivation of the locals from their known source of income, various organisations have been persistently demanding decommissioning of the Ithai barrage on the ground that none of the objectives namely flood management, hydropower production, irrigation and navigation, that the government promised prior to actual implementation of the power project have been fulfilled.
Ithai barrage, the first major dam undertaken in Manipur to raise and maintain the water level of the Loktak to a certain level to operate the electric generating turbines of the power project, continues to draw flak from environmentalists and civil society organisations till date regardless of the project authorities claiming that it has met with a fair degree of success in terms of electric power generation, which is far from the truth as the state has been relying on power supply from other states.
Nevertheless, it is heartening to hear Asnikumar saying that the state government is determined to make the Loktak Lake an iconic wetland site in the global context and that LDA is facilitating community participation, research, policies and conservation activities to fulfil the mandate of conservation and sustainable management of the lake.
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