Correspondent
IMPHAL, May 11
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ontinuous intermittent seasonal rain and indefinite chakka bandh along Imphal-Jiribam route (NH- 37) has made life miserable in Manipur’s Tamenglong district.
The situation has turned from bad to worse with the Joint Forum for Transport Welfare, Tamenglong deciding to intensify the ongoing indefinite Chakka bandh along Imphal-Jiribam route with the state government fails to give a positive response to the demand of the public for improving the condition of Tamenglong- Khongsang road within 48 hours.
The Forum has been demanding that implementation of developmental work along Tamenglong- Khongsang road should be taken up by BRTF only and no other agencies.The indefinite chaka bandh which started from May 7 midnight has badly affected the life of the people in the district with all inter-state bus and daily Tata sumo passenger services remaining off the road.
On the other hand, sporadic rain has disturbed Tamenglong district headquarters which is located about 150 west of Imphal.
A resident of Tamenglong said one amusing fact about Tamenglong is that whenever heavy rain comes electricity goes off. The hill town has been cut off from electricity supply since Saturday.
Interestingly, Manipur is wet now after the arrival of seasonal rain since May 3. The continuous rain has been providing relief to the people reeling under scorching heat besides refilling the drying water bodies mainly the rivers and ponds etc.
Most of the Imphal streets have even started to face water logging since the last few days due to the unplanned growth and city infrastructure expansion.
Imphalites, who had been facing acute shortage of water, are harvesting every drop of rain at their respective courtyards since then.
Since the beginning of rainfall since May 3 till May 11, the state has recorded a total rainfall rate of around 30.3 mm, according to daily weather reports released by the State Directorate of Environment. The highest rainfall rate was recorded on May 8 (12.62mm) with Imphal West and Tamenglong district recorded as the rainiest districts among the state’s nine districts.
It may be noted that Manipur had been experiencing a dry weather after rain god refused to come since November last year.
