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IMPHAL — Residents of five colonies in Imphal staged a sit-in on Friday to protest poor maintenance of river banks and drainage system, which is causing frequent floods in the capital city of Manipur.
“We are protesting the frequent flooding in our area due to negligence and lack of attention from the state authorities,” said Nargaram Chairman Joyson Raikhan, adding. “We have submitted a number of memorandums to the concerned authorities but there are no visible steps to address this issue.”
The residents of Nagaram, Tangkhul Avenue, Dewlaland, Fairyland and Namdulung, which have more than 2000 houses and three schools, have been facing frequent floods due to lack of Naga riverbank maintenance and drainage.
Floods have hit these localities again over the past three days, not long after cyclone Remal wreacked havoc last month.
The situation in these areas is said to have worsened after the renovation and retaining wall construction of the Naga River in 2014. According to residents, the width of the river has reduced to 7-8 ft against the usual 20ft at some locations.
Despite making big promises during election campaigns to rectify the situation, no one has taken up any positive steps till date, said Raikhan.
“So now, we are demanding eviction of the encroached area along the Naga river from Nagaram to Khoyathong without delay and removal of the solid waste,” he added.
Demand for compensation
Meanwhile, Irabot Foundation Manipur (IFM), one of the oldest farmers’ organisations in the state, has demanded a white paper regarding the current losses due to repeated floods and compensation for the affected people.
“We have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister N Biren Singh in this regard,” said President Gopen Luwang of IFM while addressing a press conference in Imphal on Friday.
“We are also demanding the constitution of a high powered expert committee on frequent flood and drought in Manipur so as to deal with it properly in future,” he added.
Luwang also said that the IFM is requesting the state Chief Minister to initiate a river basin planning management with active community participation.
The memorandum also urged inclusion of more wetlands in the state to the Ramsar convention list of India besides initiating potential classification and zonation of lands after conducting a systematic land use survey, he said.
“Our arable lands are shrinking day by day, and the population pressure is tremendous to our arable lands,” he said.
Manipur has been facing natural calamities such as hailstorm, frequent flood and droughts of late, destroying houses, crops and livestock.
According to the latest record available with the Relief and Disaster Management, the total of crop areas affected due to the ongoing flood stands at 133.39 hectares in the state.
A total population of 25,041 have been affected, while 2483 persons were evacuated. Around 1,251 affected people are at 38 relief camps set up in the state.
As many as 69 landslides have been reported in the state due to the continuous rain in the hill areas, said a report released on Friday.
As per the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change data recorded till 6 pm on Friday, Tamenglong recorded a maximum rainfall of 11.6mm, followed by Senapati (6.3mm) and Imphal East (4.8mm).
More than 522 hectares of crop areas in Manipur have been affected, while five persons lost their lives in the floods following heavy rainfall between May 28 and May 31 this year. More than 1.2 lakh people across 255 localities and villages were affected and 16,364 houses damaged, it revealed.