The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)led coalition government in Manipur has taken up dredging of rivers in the state to increase the discharge carrying capacity of rivers.
The dredging and re-sectioning of the rivers are underway on a war footing along the Imphal river by dismantling the unauthorized structures constructed on the river course in the last few days.
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Informing about this to media the Chief Engineer Ksh Pritam of the Water Resources Department said this initiative will continue under the supervision of the new government in the state.
Considering the recent flood crisis in the state, a high powered committee with Deputy Chairman of the Niti Ayog has been constituted for proper management of the water in the state, the Chief Engineer said. A technical expert committee has also been formed at the central level to conduct a study for the NE region as long term measure to combat flood.
The step has been taken up in view of the frequent floods and landslides in the state in the previous years. River banks were also breached across 36 points during last year’s monsoon.
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Interestingly the state authority is planning to re-develop a water body covering an area of 442 acres (against the previous plan of 243 acres) at Lamphelpat, an important wetland on the north western part of greater Imphal area, he added.
Different projects under the other lines departments such as Environment, fisheries, public health engineering and tourism departments will also be incorporated in the improvement area.
Lamphelpat which plays a vital role as a natural reservoir during monsoon, is now occupied by the government structures resulting in significant reduction of the size of the wetland.
Supplementing his statement, Additional Chief Engineer Y Jogeshwar Singh also informed that the department is taking up improvement of the existing water bodies such as Waithoupat, Irong Nallah (Upper)and Irong Nallah (Lower) to mitigate flood and provide other allied benefits.
Additional Chief Engineer Jogeshwar also said that the state government will start implementation of the state water policy which was framed three years back considering the public demand for judicious use of water resources in order to achieve the global sustainable development goals.