LAMKA, March 20: In a blatant disregard of the law, the river bed of Lanva, New Lamka, had been tampered during the dry seasons to an extent that the flood waters of the river during monsoon will surely inundate neighbouring localities on the other bank of the river, and worse, some people are now constructing market sheds on land reclaimed and encroached from the river bed on one side of the river by as much as 70 percent of the river width.
A study by IFP revealed that the construction was in gross violation of the Act pass on September 1, 1985, which came into force on December 1, 1985.
The people however are not aware of the law violation and are happy that a market place will come up there. They do not seem to care or are aware of the grave consequence of this encroachment or that what is being done is akin to planting a time bomb ready to explode in the coming monsoon session.
It may be recall that the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, IFCD, had taken serious note of the matter as was evident from its notification of July 31, 2014.
A look at the river bed shows that it was the people next to the river who had a share in the degradation. For long this was the dumping ground for their kitchen waste.
In fact the rule of Manipur Flood Plain Zoning Act 1978 came for a shock with sand mining. River beds were degraded in rampant fashions because of this. This Act provides for zoning of the flood plains of Manipur which also technically include flatlands of Ccpur district. The actual implementation of the provisions of the Act however remains vague with ministers and other top officials protecting the interest of these miners for almost 40 years since the Act came into existence.
On paper, the IFCD is against such encroachments in the river beds, however but on the ground it is a different reality altogether.
Meanwhile, what has been comprised in this approach to policy implementation is that the safety to life and property of the inhabitants of the area are put at risk. It remains to be seen of this time bomb explodes during the approaching monsoon season.
