Owners to occupiers: Phumdi hut dwellers on Loktak
- Part 2 -

By Thingnam Anjulika Samom *

Fifty-six year old Ningthoujam Rakhon, general secretary of the All Loktak Lake Floating Hut Dwellers Progressive Committee, maintains that the Act is a death knell for the nearly 10,000 people living in phumdis huts. "Loktak is our lifeline. We have no agricultural land holdings or homestead on the mainland. For generations we have been staying here. We do not know another way of life except this. Evicting us in this manner is the same as asking us to commit mass suicide," he adds.

Rakhon lives with his family on Champu Khangpok, a phumdi village on Loktak Lake populated by above 1500 people. "My great-great grandfather lived here, and even those before him. How can we fish on Loktak waters without having the safety of our huts? The high winds and raging weathers could kill us anytime," he adds.

Scoffing at the government stand that phumdis and phum hut dwellers are polluting the lake, Rakhon insists that the pollution is due to the inflow of polluted waters from the rivers as well as the Ithai barrage. "We have been living here and fishing here for generations. But Loktak didn't have pollution problem before.

It is due to the urban waste - rotten, stinking and highly polluted -- that the rivers like Nambul, Ningthoukhong and Thongjaorok bring to Loktak. Earlier even this polluted waters and sewage would be flushed out through the Manipur River. But after the Ithai baragge was built, Loktak became a standing pool and the pollutants stayed," he points out.

The Ithai barrage built at the confluence of the Manipur river, the Khuga river and the Ungamel channel as part of the 105 MW Loktak Hydropower Project has not only inundated a large tract of agricultural land on the periphery of the lake, but also obstructed traditional river passage. This has led to depletion of migratory fish from the Chindwin-Irrawaddy river system as well as natural flushing of the phumdis down the Khordak channel, thereby encouraging the process of eutrophication in the lake and the unchecked proliferation of phumdi.

Phumdi management has been an important part of the activities of the Loktak Development Authority (LDA). The LDA had recently commissioned New Delhi based K. Pro Infra Works Private Ltd. to clean up around 132.94 lakh cubic metres of phumdis from the lake as a joint venture with Progressive Construction Ltd. (PCL) based in Hyderabad.

The Rs. 224 crore contract work, targeted to be completed in two years and three months, is in progress following its inauguration by the Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi on 6th January this year. The State Planning Commission has also sanctioned an amount of Rs 400 crores for the purpose of clearing phumdis from Loktak Lake.

Phumdis in Loktak lake

However the move has threatened the very existence of the around 10,000 phumdi hut dwellers living on Loktak Lake. The dwellers recently joined forces under the banner of All Loktak Lake Floating Hut Dwellers Progressive Committee to oppose their displacement. "We have submitted memorandums to the Chief Minister as well as local MLAs to review the move, but we are yet to hear from them," says Ningthoujam Rakhon, general secretary of the committee.

The situation is set for an impasse as the state government too is adamant to have its way. As evident by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi's Khongjom Day speech this year, there will be no tolerance from the state government's side on the eviction "as necessary compensation has been given to the athaphum owners and the LDA has set the motion of removing the phumdis from the lake." April 23 is celebrated as Khongjom Day annually in Manipur in commemoration of the Anglo-Manipur war of 1891 after which the kingdom of Manipur was annexed by the then British regime.

Water surrounds them, there have been so many cases of young children drowning in the lake," says Ayingbi. Despite all these shortcomings, the lake is their guardian. "Loktak is our mother. We are able to feed our children and run our family only because of her grace. Where else will we go?" says 27-year old Salam Pramo of Nongmaikhong in Thoubal district who has been living in a phum hut for three years now. Pramo and her husband Kabi too had chosen Loktak over the Ungamen Lake located close to their home in view of the better fish catch and earning avenue that the Loktak offered.

But insecurity dogs them here too. A recent legislation passed by the state government, The Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Bill, 2006, defines "a person who dwells in huts or houses on the phumdis or uses the phumdis" as "occupiers." The Act aims "to provide for administration, control, protection, improvement, conservation and development of the natural environment of the Loktak Lake and for matters connected with as incidental thereto."

The Act further prohibits building of hut or house on phumdis inside the Core Zone of the lake as well as engaging in athapum fishing in the lake, among others. The 70.30 Sq. Km. Core Zone demarcated under the act include the area where the phum huts of Tamu, Pramo and Ayingbi are located.

Fifty-six year old Ningthoujam Rakhon, general secretary of the All Loktak Lake Floating Hut Dwellers Progressive Committee, maintains that the Act is a death knell for the nearly 10,000 people living in phumdis huts. "Loktak is our lifeline. We have no agricultural land holdings or homestead on the mainland. For generations we have been staying here. We do not know another way of life except this. Evicting us in this manner is the same as asking us to commit mass suicide," he adds.

Rakhon lives with his family on Champu Khangpok, a phumdi village on Loktak Lake populated by above 1500 people. "My great-great grandfather lived here, and even those before him. How can we fish on Loktak waters without having the safety of our huts? The high winds and raging weathers could kill us anytime," he adds.

Scoffing at the government stand that phumdis and phum hut dwellers are polluting the lake, Rakhon insists that the pollution is due to the inflow of polluted waters from the rivers as well as the Ithai barrage. "We have been living here and fishing here for generations. But Loktak didn't have pollution problem before.

It is due to the urban waste - rotten, stinking and highly polluted -- that the rivers like Nambul, Ningthoukhong and Thongjaorok bring to Loktak. Earlier even this polluted waters and sewage would be flushed out through the Manipur River. But after the Ithai baragge was built, Loktak became a standing pool and the pollutants stayed," he points out.

The Ithai barrage built at the confluence of the Manipur river, the Khuga river and the Ungamel channel as part of the 105 MW Loktak Hydropower Project has not only inundated a large tract of agricultural land on the periphery of the lake, but also obstructed traditional river passage. This has led to depletion of migratory fish from the Chindwin-Irrawaddy river system as well as natural flushing of the phumdis down the Khordak channel, thereby encouraging the process of eutrophication in the lake and the unchecked proliferation of phumdi.

Phumdi management has been an important part of the activities of the Loktak Development Authority (LDA). The LDA had recently commissioned New Delhi based K. Pro Infra Works Private Ltd. to clean up around 132.94 lakh cubic metres of phumdis from the lake as a joint venture with Progressive Construction Ltd. (PCL) based in Hyderabad. The Rs. 224 crore contract work, targeted to be completed in two years and three months, is in progress following its inauguration by the Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi on 6th January this year. The State Planning Commission has also sanctioned an amount of Rs 400 crores for the purpose of clearing phumdis from Loktak Lake.

However the move has threatened the very existence of the around 10,000 phumdi hut dwellers living on Loktak Lake. The dwellers recently joined forces under the banner of All Loktak Lake Floating Hut Dwellers Progressive Committee to oppose their displacement. "We have submitted memorandums to the Chief Minister as well as local MLAs to review the move, but we are yet to hear from them," says Ningthoujam Rakhon, general secretary of the committee.

The situation is set for an impasse as the state government too is adamant to have its way. As evident by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi's Khongjom Day speech this year, there will be no tolerance from the state government's side on the eviction "as necessary compensation has been given to the athaphum owners and the LDA has set the motion of removing the phumdis from the lake." April 23 is celebrated as Khongjom Day annually in Manipur in commemoration of the Anglo-Manipur war of 1891 after which the kingdom of Manipur was annexed by the then British regime.

Concluded....

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* Thingnam Anjulika Samom wrote this article for Hueiyen Lanpao (English Edition). This article was webcasted on October 05 2010.

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