JB LAMA
A LITTLE known organisation calling itself the Tamna Sanggai stirred every Manipuri’s imagination early this month when it organised a roadshow music campaign at Imphal, the theme being “Save Loktak, our life”. It claimed 60 young men on bikes and cars were flagged off by A Mema Devi and Ranbir Thouna, a well known music composer, and they moved around town distributing pamphlets to create awareness. Apart from a booklet titled “Loktak — Manipur’s dying lake”, a CD with music composed by Ranbir and a DVD conceived and directed by Oinam Doren, an upcoming filmmaker of alternative cinema, were also released.
The organisation deserves encouragement. Its prime objective is to focus attention on the danger the lake faces because of a fast changing environment and to ensure that children in the near future will not ask their parents what the lake looked like in its original form. The commissioning of the Centrally-sponsored prestigious 105-MW Loktak hydro-electric power project in the late 1980s — it draws water from the lake — is said to have caused the level to fall. Not only has the project not ushered in the promised era of prosperity, it has also failed to meet the daily demand for power. Engineers will tell you there is no shortage of power, but power cuts remain the order of the day. They blame their predecessors for indenting substandard transformers or the lack of rain.
Situated 50 km south of Imphal in Moirang, Loktak is the largest freshwater lake in the eastern region and is also known as the “Floating Lake” because of the presence of phumdis, described as a heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter in various stages of decomposition. According to the WWF, the lake plays an important role in the ecological and economic security of the region and is a source of livelihood for about 100,000 people in the vicinity. The lake yields 1,500 tonnes of fish annually. Some of the root causes of the problems are said to be loss of vegetal core in the catchment areas and construction of the Ithai barrage. Another problem is the change in hydrological regimes that has affected the ecologolical process and its function as a wetland.
The Loktak Development Authority, set up in 1986, is engaged in checking deterioration of the lake through siltation control and afforestation in the catchment areas. Who knows what it would be like if the state does not get enough rainfall during the monsoon?
A LITTLE known organisation calling itself the Tamna Sanggai stirred every Manipuri’s imagination early this month when it organised a roadshow music campaign at Imphal, the theme being “Save Loktak, our life”. It claimed 60 young men on bikes and cars were flagged off by A Mema Devi and Ranbir Thouna, a well known music composer, and they moved around town distributing pamphlets to create awareness. Apart from a booklet titled “Loktak — Manipur’s dying lake”, a CD with music composed by Ranbir and a DVD conceived and directed by Oinam Doren, an upcoming filmmaker of alternative cinema, were also released.
The organisation deserves encouragement. Its prime objective is to focus attention on the danger the lake faces because of a fast changing environment and to ensure that children in the near future will not ask their parents what the lake looked like in its original form. The commissioning of the Centrally-sponsored prestigious 105-MW Loktak hydro-electric power project in the late 1980s — it draws water from the lake — is said to have caused the level to fall. Not only has the project not ushered in the promised era of prosperity, it has also failed to meet the daily demand for power. Engineers will tell you there is no shortage of power, but power cuts remain the order of the day. They blame their predecessors for indenting substandard transformers or the lack of rain.
Situated 50 km south of Imphal in Moirang, Loktak is the largest freshwater lake in the eastern region and is also known as the “Floating Lake” because of the presence of phumdis, described as a heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter in various stages of decomposition. According to the WWF, the lake plays an important role in the ecological and economic security of the region and is a source of livelihood for about 100,000 people in the vicinity. The lake yields 1,500 tonnes of fish annually. Some of the root causes of the problems are said to be loss of vegetal core in the catchment areas and construction of the Ithai barrage. Another problem is the change in hydrological regimes that has affected the ecologolical process and its function as a wetland.
The Loktak Development Authority, set up in 1986, is engaged in checking deterioration of the lake through siltation control and afforestation in the catchment areas. Who knows what it would be like if the state does not get enough rainfall during the monsoon?
Loktak is also the natural habitat of the now-endangered brow-antler deer, locally called sangai. They live on floating phumdis. In 1975, there were just 14 of them. After the lake was declared a National Park in March 1977 and the subsequent protection and conservation measures undertaken by the state forest department, the deer population increased to 152 – 58 stags, 69 does and 25 fawns.
What is of concern is the presence of militants in the area. Early last week, 11 of them were killed in “Operation Summer Storm” mounted by the Army and Manipur police to flush them from the lake area. A Defence press release speaks of “extremely well concealed rebel camps in dense phumdis and in inaccessible marshy areas”. For one, without Loktak Lake Manipur would be like a beautiful lady without any hair.
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SECESSION is still a live issue in the North-east but this does not deter people from exercising their franchise. In fact more and more people are becoming conscious of the value of their votes. The first phase of polling ended more or less peacefully except for some minor incidents in Nagaland and damage to electronic voting machines. Nagaland registered an 84 per cent turnout, followed by Manipur (67 per cent), Meghalaya (65 per cent), Assam and Arunachal Pradesh (62 per cent each) and Mizoran (52 per cent). Tripura votes on 23 April. Apart from Lok Sabha polls, Nagaland also held by-elections in four constituencies caused by the resignation of four Congress legislators.
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IT is unbelievable but on record that a former Congress MLA and deputy Speaker in Meghalaya spent Rs 14 lakh in 14 months on tea and snacks ostensibly for their visitors between 2006-2008. This was revealed by Meghalaya Speaker BM Lanong, who has declined to pass the latter’s bill. That roughly works out to 4,450 visitors a day, between them, excluding Sundays and surely speaks of their enviable popularity! But how did they manage to handle so many visitors a day? Talk about a slip between the cup and the lip!