Imphal, June 30 2009: No one respondent to a government tender floated for handing over the works of removal, transportation and restoration as a part of phumdi (floating biomass) management in Loktak lake even though the last date of submitting the application for the contract work expired.

The tender was floated by the Lotkak Development Authority with last date of submission of the application form on June 25 last.

The work is to be taken up under Short Term Action Plan (STAP) to conserve the only fresh water lake in the north eastern region of the country.

The matter is likely affect to the tentative time frame for the completion of various components included in the STAP for the conservation and management of the lake even though implementation of other components is in progress.

Official source said that the tender was floated with advertisement made in national paper and local newspapers recently as June 25, 2009 as last date for submission of tender.

But no one has respondent till the last date.

The matter of not getting any respond was discussed in a recently held meeting to review the implementation of the STAP held under in the chair of the state chief secretary, Rakesh.

In the meeting, state principal secretary (forest) K Angami suggested that reasonable time should be given to all parties so that they can examine the term and conditions and respond to the tender floated by the LDA for phumdis management.

He also suggested for the extension of last date for submission of tender and also asked the LDA to compile all the requisite information from all departments concerned on the progress of works taken by the line department instead of relying on the information available with the LDA for convergence of activities.

STAP was drafted by the M/s Wetland International South Asia (WISA) as consultant with a view to make the project called "Conservation and Management of Loktak and Associated Wetlands" which was approved by the Planning Commission of India considering the rapid degradation of the ecosystem service of the Lake.

STAP is more comprehensive and multidisciplinary plan which would associated with Conservation and Management of Loktak and Associated Wetlands, a project with an overall investment of Rs 494.72 crores over a period of five years.

The project commenced with an amount of Rs 50 crores released by the centre under the Special Plan Assistant (SPA), 2007-08 for the state.

However, in the subsequent year, the Planning Commission decided to the review the project to make it more comprehensive and multi-disciplinary.

A district level committee on livelihood improvement has been formed and the Loktak Development Authority, implementing authority is also planning to conduct workshop as per scheduled.

Loktak Lake, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the northeastern India, is under severe pressure due to many reasons-the main being increased siltation from the degraded catchment area.

In the present study Nuclear Technique Lead-210 (210Pb) Technique has been applied to estimate soil erosion rates in the catchment of the lake.

The erosion rates of the various land uses in the catchment have determined for various land uses, which are; fallow land (1.86 t ha-1 y-1), paddy cultivation (1.69 t ha-1 y-1), mixed forest (1.59 t ha-1 y-1) and river bed (1.35 t ha-1 y-1).The results obtained from the unsupported 210Pb are compared with equivalent results based on the modified Morgan Morgan Finney model and the results are found satisfactory, according to official observation report.

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