Evicted lake dwellers face uphill task
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 13, 2012:
Reduced to garbage collectors after being evicted from their homes on the floating biomass of Loktak Lake, some of the displaced fishing community are struggling for survival so much that education of their wards is longer the priority.
Speaking to The Sangai Express 37-year old Thoudam Pishak Devi, a fisherwoman who has been evicted from Loktak lake sometime back, said she is presently occupied in ensuring two square meals for her three children.
Expressing fear that her children might be forced to abandon further education for the income from scouring plastic materials out of garbage piles inside and periphery of the Loktak Lake is not even enough to feed them, Pishak lamented that there had been no rehabilitation package for education of children of the evicted families.
Conveying that there are over 250 school-going children of the evicted Loktak dwellers whose future are very bleak, she said along with dismantling the huts on the floating biomass during the eviction drive carried out in November last all the fishing equipment were also destroyed thereby crippling income generation source of the fishing community.
Pishak strongly desired that the Government of Manipur and NGOs concerned contribute their mite in securing the future of the young children.