Of rain and more rain and flood : No lessons learnt
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 02, 2025 -

Extensive flooding in Imphal East on 31st May 2025 :: Pix - Khaba Kh

Across the overflowing rivers, the breached embankments, the flooded roads, streets and houses, the rescue missions, is writ large a tale of non-stop downpour, barren hills, clogged waterways, encroachments on areas which should have been left open and a Government which has refused to learn any lesson from the devastating flood of 2024-a deluge which was an outcome of Cyclone Remal.

This year there is no such Cyclone or disturbance, but Manipur is reeling another spell of flood.

Even as this commentary is being penned down late in the evening of June 1, 2025, reports of water level rising at the major rivers flowing through Imphal keep pouring in.

Imphal River has breached at many points since the evening of May 30/31, the water levels at Iril, Nambul, Kongba are already flowing at the danger or above level and the State Government just does not seem to know how to address the issue at hand.

Making things worse is the report that one of the five sluice gates of Ithai Barrage has conked out, meaning it cannot be opened to let the growing volume of water flow downward.

Nobody, least of all the National Hydro Project Corporation, seems to know how to open the said sluice gate, but given the fact that getting it opened is no rocket science, one wonders what the higher ups of NHPC have been doing.

Only one gate out of five not working may be the line of argument that may be put up, but this is akin to asking four men do the work assigned to five men and that too to meet a deadline.

This is the analogy that comes to mind, even as Imphal, Senapati and Kangpokpi continue to reel under the havoc of flood.

The urgency of the matter does not permit one to go in for a minute post mortem at this point of time, but it should be obvious to all that Manipur is just not ready to face any natural calamity and flood is one of them.

Given the lackadaisical approach of the Government to anything that is of utmost public importance, it wouldn't be surprising if Manipur experiences another spell of drought once the sky opens up.

This is the reality and while numerous areas and localities in Imphal have been submerged, Manipur obviously does not have a Plan B to deal with the situation.

Or it has not learnt any lesson from the past, particularly the flood of 2024, a reality that was said to have been triggered by Cyclone Remal.

Five days of rain and this is the havoc that has been created.

It was not always like this in the olden days.

Time was when Manipur used to receive rain for days but never was the magnitude of rivers overflowing, river banks being breached, water unable to flow on naturally experienced as much as today.

The reasons should not be too far to see.

With the natural waterways such as the khongbans in every leikai and leirak getting smaller and smaller each year, today it is no longer about the water from the roads draining into the khongbans, but one of water flowing out of khongbans and flooding the leikais and leikais which ultimately seeps into the houses of the people.

The rain started steadily from May 28 and by the next day plastics and empty water bottles could be seen bobbing up and down in some of rivers passing through Imphal, such as Nambul river.

Greed for land, the penchant of dumping wastes, particularly plastic wastes and the result is there for all to see on the flooded roads and streets of Imphal.

The Weather Department has already forecast that more rain is likely to come in the coming days and one can imagine the situation.

Already the compound of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences has been flooded and one wonders how health workers, such as doctors and nurses would attend to the needs of the patients.

There is no way that the rain can be stopped, but what can be done is to minimise its impact if and when the sky decides to open up for days on end, as in the current situation.

For one, the Government needs to wake up to the fact that Manipur is one of the wetter places in the country and it never hurts to be prepared for any eventuality.