The Nambul river is one of the main perennial sources of water for the Loktak Lake which is a designated Ramsar site since 23rd March 1990 under the Ramsar Convention, to which India is a state party.

 

Unfortunately, this river is dying rapidly due to pollution, incessant unplanned construction and human encroachment. This has also affected the water quality of Loktak and hence the fishers and wetlands dependents of Loktak.

 

The Nambul river is also one of the primary inland waterways that connected the villages of the southern and eastern part of the valleys and hills of Manipur with the main commercial and market hub in Imphal, the Khwairamband Keithel, in the past. This perennial river, which was of immense economic importance to Manipur till recent times has now been designated erroneously by our town planners as ‘Nambul Nala’ (Nambul drain) or its tributary ‘Naga Nala’. This further reflects an uninformed public policy view which is disturbingly fallacious and has serious implications for the health, socio-culture and economy of the state. 

 

There have been state interventions on the river by building check dams in the upstream, and covering of portions of Naga River, which threatens this river of its natural flow. 

 

It is a tragic fact that, complex environmental and ecological problems caused by city dwellers’ waste like domestic waste, bio-medical and industrial wastes, plastic waste have never been adequately addressed in modern Manipur. Nambul River has now been treated by us as a wastebin of the main capital Imphal City that flows into Loktak Lake and causes serious environment, socio-economic and health concerns of the State.

 

In the line of the above mentioned paragraphs, the signatories would like to request you to kindly consider the following:

1.    Take immediate and efficient steps to ensure that the tons of garbage piled up at Loktak brought down by Nambul River over years be cleaned.

2.    Make inclusive and community participatory process in order to revive the Nambul River.

3.    Take immediate steps to ensure that all the tributaries and inflow canals of the Nambul River are maintained as clean, hygienic and ecologically healthy physical and cultural assets along its entire length from its source in the Kangchup Range to its discharge point at the Loktak Lake.

4.    Take immediate steps to remove the ecologically disastrous interventions and concrete covering of Naga River.

5.    Identify and ensure that major potential pollution points throughout the 1.5 KM length of the Nambul River within the Imphal Municipal Area be kept under strict regulation.

6.    Further, to also identify and ensure that major potential pollution points within the Imphal Municipal Areas be kept under strict regulation.

7.    Ensure that the Nambul River, a key river in the maintenance of the micro climatic and ecological health of the Manipur Valley, is kept free of all encroachments by any human activities.

8.    Develop a comprehensive, and ecologically informed, Rivers and Wetlands Policy for the State.