Measures to prevent artificial flood in Manipur
Geetanjali Khangembam *
flash floods in Imphal - Uripok , Naoremthong area on 22 August 2014 :: Pix - Shankar Khagembam
Introduction:
In general term, flood refers to the temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from overflowing of water from the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface water from any sources. In other words, it is the covering of dry land areas with water.
In Manipur, the issue of artificial flood has been a burning issue for the last many years due to various factors.
Some of the causes of flood be it artificial or natural in Manipur are enumerated as below: -
Normally flood is caused by heavy rainfall or failures of dams, levees, retention ponds or other structures that retained the water. But, looking at the present context of Manipur, it is mainly caused by the "lack of proper drainage system".
In Manipur, artificial flood generally occurs in the urban areas rather than in rural areas. In the present scenario, the population of people per square kilometer is much more in urban areas than in rural areas. As a result, there is no report of artificial flood in rural areas which is contrary in the case of urban areas. Since urban areas have 'no room to swing a cat', people encroached upon the khas land for their convenience without much regard for maintaining proper 'drainage system' to drain away rain water from logging. This in turn leads to artificial flood even during little rainfall.
Some of the preventive measures:
In fact, it is this artificial flood that brought with it great damages and destruction to the people endangering their lives causing soil erosion and other kinds of havoc.
So, in order to put this to an end some essential measures which should be taken up are enlisted as below:
- People should be aware while encroaching upon the khas land.
- The population of people per Sq. K.M. should be considered.
- People should be aware before throwing waste water in to the drain.
- Each and every house should have proper drainage system.
- A ring round drainage for each and every locality should developed.
- Construction of retaining walls should be encouraged.
- Depth of the river-beds should be considered.
- People must volunteer in cleaning off the garbage dumped into the river.
- Giving awareness to the people on maintaining proper drainage system.
- Last but not the least; the government should chalk out long term plan to do away with the problem of artificial flood.
Conclusion:
The above mentioned measures should be taken up by the government and the people joining in hands and co-operating with each other to over come 'the burning problem of artificial flood'. Lastly, let us hope for "A Clean Imphal City with Proper Drainage System"
* Geetanjali Khangembam wrote this article for Hueiyen Lanpao
The writer is a Class-XI (Arts) student at Manipur Public School, Koirengei
This article was posted on September 04, 2014.
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