Lamphelpat turned into a concrete jungle
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 24, 2013 With a concrete jungle coming up fast in all its direction, Lamphelpat is literally on the brink of extinction.

Future generations would find it hard to believe that Lamphelpat was once an abode of the beautiful Kombirei flowers.

It seems people remember Lamphelpat only at the time of Sajibu Cheiraoba during which Kombirei is the most prized offering to the Lord and when there is flood in Imphal city and surrounding areas.

But very few people seem aware of the important roles played by Lamphelpat in controlling the climatic conditions of Imphal.

A survey conducted by The Sangai Express found that the fundamental causes of the wetland�s misfortune are allotment of land to Government departments in the name of development and encroachment by private parties.

The State Government is constructing a treatment plant of Imphal Sewerage Project in the very heart of Lamphelpat.

Two other portions of the wetland are being used as dumping sites for garbage and waste material collected from Imphal city.

This has only aggravated the critically sick condition of the wetland.

With the construction of a number of Government of flees and quarters, no option has been left for recuperation of Lamphelpat.

To retain certain volume of water, the Directorate of Environment has started digging after the Directorate has been allotted 100 acres of land within the wetland.

Even as IFCD has been considering taking up a project with a view to control floods under the Water Resources Ministry, the project remains at its conceptual stage.

By constructing two roads across the wetland, the shape and structure of Lamphelpat have been changed irrevocably.

Experts have already suggested that Lamphelpat can be developed as a place of recreation and sports as well as a Water reservoir for Imphal city.

Lamphelpat is included among the lakes selected for development under the National Lake Conservation Plan.

But its condition has deteriorated to such a critical level that if the Government does not act for its conservation at the earliest, Lamphelpat and the beautiful Kombirei would vanish for good though they may remain as subjects of poetry and history.

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