Manipur: Loktak fishers union question government’s move on Inland Waterways Project

The All Loktak Lake Areas Fishers Union, Manipur (ALLAFUM) has questioned the Government of Manipur’s arbitrary move to push ahead with its proposal of taking up the (Loktak) Inland Waterways Project without taking into confidence the local fishing community settled within and around the Loktak Lake peripheral areas.

Stating that the proposed project is likely to have a negative impact on the overall ecology of the lake and the livelihoods of hundreds of fisher families who practice traditional capture fishery and who depend on the lake entirely for their living, the fishers union reacted sharply as to why the Government has not considered inviting the fishers as primary stakeholders on the state-level discussion over the proposed project.

ALLAFUM secretary Oinam Rajen pointed out that the Transport Department had organized an interaction session on the inland waterways project at the Old Secretariat Conference Hall on Friday (12 January) and at the Loktak Development Authority office on Saturday (13 January), the department officials had willfully ignored the Loktak fishers while inviting the unrelated All Manipur Entrepreneur Association (AMEA) to the said interaction session.

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An official communiqué of ST Rithung Anal, Joint Secretary (Transport), Government of Manipur on the 9th of this month had issued notification of conducting an interaction session on ‘Inland Waterways and the development potential in the State’ without directly referring to the State’s earlier proposal on the Loktak Inland Waterways Improvement Project which had met with stiff opposition from the Loktak fishers on grounds of possible negative impacts on the lake ecosystem and the fishers livelihoods.

The interaction session was called at the behest of the Member (Logistics), Inland Waterways Authority of India, Government of India, based at Noida in the Delhi NCR. 

The session slated for conduct by the Transport Department in association with Loktak Development Authority while inviting representatives of AMEA did not consider calling Loktak fishers’ representatives for discussion.

It may be recalled that a division bench of the High Court of Manipur consisting of Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice A. Bimol had in February 2022 instructed the relevant authorities to ensure that no development works are initiated in and around Loktak Lake without the court’s permission.

The High Court’s instruction had come following the directions from the Supreme Court of India on maintaining the status of Ramsar sites throughout the country wherein the High Court of Manipur initiated proceedings to conserve Loktak Lake and directed the authorities of the lake in July 2019 that no project or development program on Loktak Lake should be initiated by any authority without the High Court’s permission.

It may further be recalled that the High Court of Manipur had in 2017 initiated a Public Interest Litigation (PIL No.24 of 2017) on its own motion following the 3rd April 2017 order of the Supreme Court of India in WP(C) No.230 of 2001 wherein the Supreme Court had directed that jurisdictional High Courts must supervise the management of wetlands designated as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Wetlands Convention 1971.

The PIL (Court on its Own Motion v. State of Manipur & Ors.) had sought the State Government’s response on the management and conservation measures taken up on the ecosystem restoration of Loktak Lake while ensuring that developmental projects do not negate the overall status of the lake ecology considering Loktak’s status as a Ramsar site of international importance.

Loktak Lake has since been deep in controversy over how its hydrological regime had been entirely upset due to the regulation of water by the Ithai Barrage of the Loktak Hydroelectric Power Project since its commissioning in June 1983. 

The barrage is mired in controversy over contributing to the ecological and environmental disaster within the Manipur River Basin areas covering Loktak Lake and its associated water bodies. Years of ecological degradation had led to biodiversity loss and had considerably impacted the fishers’ livelihoods negatively.

ALLAFUM strongly resents the Government’s initiative to move forward with the inland waterways project without neither taking into confidence the Loktak Lake-dependent fishing community nor considering the possible negative impact on its ecosystem by the project.