In the last few years, Churachandpur district has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
If ten years down the line, 2015 is remembered it will most probably be for the huge uproar in the district after the State Assembly passed the three contentious Bills on August 31 and nine people were killed.
The bodies of eight of the nine killed were claimed only this year, that is nearly two years later and after the BJP led Government came to power in Imphal.
One year before 2015, it was the large scale cases of Rabies, wherein many people were bitten by rabid, or otherwise, canines and the district occupied prime space in all the daily newspapers published from Imphal.
Now fast forward to 2017 and the district is once again in the news with Japanese Encephalitis and Dengue stalking the denizens of the district and the district leading the chart in the cases of the vector borne cases.
Not clear whether the outbreak of the vector borne diseases may be linked to the heavy rainfall witnessed in the State in the last many days, but with more rains being forecast, the situation still remains bleak.
The district has now gone ahead of the two identified vector borne diseases, with people of Henglep sub-division and the nearby areas now stricken by an unidentified disease.
The situation in far flung Henglep and the adjoining areas has been made worse by the rain which has exacerbated the condition of the road with Shaktimans, the all terrain vehicle, even breaking down while carrying the villagers to the district headquarters of Churachandpur.
It is only the will to live and the assistance extended by the district administration and the local philanthropic organisations which have kept these people alive and it remains to be seen how soon the unknown disease which has hit them will be diagnosed.
With the advancement in medical technology and medical science, the result will come sooner than later, but this is no reason to remain lax.
Other than the last few years, Churachandpur was in the limelight about a decade back when Mautam or the phenomenon of bamboo flowering, which lead to rapid increase in rodent population and the rodents, in turn, scavenge on the standing crops, hit the district.
It is here that the Government need to focus on not only helping out the affected people but also conducting a systematic and scientific study to understand why Churachandpur seems to be at the epicentre of all these undesirable state of things.
Health Minister L Jayantakumar has toed the line that what is happening at Churachandpur is not yet an epidemic but this is no reason to feel comfortable.
Let the Government do its job yet at the same time, the people too need to focus on what could have been if all had learnt to respect nature.
It is here that the people of Churachandpur need to come together and pool in their thoughts.
Source: The Sangai Express
