The other side of the tragedy : The sweet and sour of it all
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 03, 2025 -

JNIMS flooded on June 01 2025 :: Pix - Chronicle News Service

The other side of the tragedy may perhaps be seen in the immense goodness of mankind coming out in all its full glory, even as Imphal, Senapati and Kangpokpi continue to reel under the impact of the non-stop rain since May 28.

Heart warming it is to see volunteers from different organisations such as Arambai Tenggol (AT), Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association (MMTA), personnel of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State police personnel and Central forces from the Assam Rifles and others stepping out to rescue the stranded folks.

Equally heart warming too was to see stranded young students of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) being escorted safely from their hostels to the place where their parents, guardians and friends awaited them and so was the joining of hands to evacuate patients from inside JNIMS hospital.

More than enough indication that it was not the Government alone which stepped out to help the less fortunate folks, people who were marooned even as the water level rose and river embankments caved in at numerous points while rivers overflowed at many more locations.

Again it was heart warming to see young boys and girls coming out and signalling traffic or the incoming vehicles not to take a particular route as the way forward was already waist deep in water.

This is the spirit of Manipur and this is something which should not be lost.

This is a sharp departure from the days when bonfires were lit in the middle of the road in the dead of the night to protest the failure of the Government to address the woes of the people in the light of the clash, when drivers were asked or barked at to put off the headlight while driving in the night and patients had to be taken on a long detour to go to the hospital just because the agitators had blocked the road ahead and leikai heroes and heroines used to come out, stop a vehicle and demanded to know where one was going!

The crucial question is if the mindset, the morality that one sees in the selflessness of extending a helping hand to the flood affected people will continue or whether it will vanish once the flood subsides and everyone will be back to square one-the visage that came out in all its ugliness in 2023, 2024 and in the earlier days of 2025.

It is also important to question whether the people as a whole have picked up any lesson from the swirling water and the havoc that the flood water has caused and even as Imphal reeled under the nonstop rain and the flood that came along with the downpour, it was not uncommon to see some 'enterprising' individuals throwing their household wastes carefully wrapped in plastic bags onto the road!

A short video clip, probably taken in the initial period of the incessant rain and which appeared in the social media, shows plastic carry bags and plastic bottles bobbing up and down in Nambul river even as the water level was rising steadily.

A reminder of the ugly reality, a reality which says that even as the sky had opened up for days, it was the self centred conduct of the people which went a long way in exacerbating the situation.

The lessons to be learnt should not be forgotten.

It was with a reason that the Government had started cracking down on single use plastics, with some shops even penalised for selling plastic carry bags but there is nothing to suggest that this has worked.

Plastic carry bags continue to be used rampantly and perhaps this is the ideal time for the Government to more vigorously highlight how clogged waterways had a big hand in the flood that one sees all around Imphal.

As suggested in this column earlier, the Government should seriously study the possibility of fixing a price on all plastic carry bags and this will certainly make the shopper think twice before asking the shopkeeper to put her purchase in a plastic carry bag.

In short the beautiful gestures extended by all to help the flood affected folks should extend to other spheres, such as giving a second thought before dumping wastes wrapped in plastic in public places and lighting bonfires in the middle of the road in the name of a protest.