IMPHAL, December 22: The traditional fishing culture should be revived at the Loktak Lake to help conserve the eco-system, BJP Manipur general secretary (Administration) Moirangthem Asnikumar said today.
Speaking to media persons at his office chamber, Asnikumar said that it is unfortunate that during the eviction drive conducted in 2010-11, the State government had destroyed and burned down the unique and peculiar feature of the Loktak Lake which is the floating huts built on the ‘phumdis’.
In the eviction process, the government has immolated the image of the dwelling huts and traditional fishing culture, he said.
He said the government has wrongly claimed that the dwelling huts and their dwellers are polluting the lake, although the real causes polluting the Loktak Lake is the use of pesticide and insecticide near the periphery agricultural fields.
He said the use of pesticide and insecticide in the periphery areas has fed poison into the fresh water lake creating many problems to the ecology.
The natural water course of the Loktak Lake through which the lake removes the waste material has also been blocked by the Ithai Barrage construction, he said.
Through the route, the lake connects to the Chakpi River which flows into the Chindwin–Irrawaddy River system of Myanmar, he said.
He said although the government has showcased the huts on the phumdis in the Sangai Festival catalogue, there is still no policy for conservation and preservation of the dwelling huts and traditional fishing culture at present.
But similar has been preserved and conserved in Dal Lake of Kashmir and Inland Lake of Myanmar, he said.
He elaborated that the government of Myanmar and Kashmir are giving incentives to such fisherfolk who practice the traditional fishing method.
However, the State government has not taken up any such policy and instead the Loktak Development Agency has been handed over the Loktake Lake, he claimed.
Development of the lake is impossible without the consent and co-operation of the fishermen dependent of the lake, he said adding that the authority should consider the fishermen as prime responsible to protect and conserve the Lake.
He continued, the government departments should also work together and the government should constitute a permanent committee for the protection of the lake under a concrete long term policy.
The lake, he said cannot survive without the Phumlen Lake and the two lakes have been co-existing together since time immemorial.
Development of the two lakes is the need of the hour to protect and conserve the lakes, he added.