Dr. Asem Tomba Meetei, PhD, JNU, Email: tombaasem777@gmail.com
It was on November 23, 2013 and December 12, 2013 that I took three visual pictures of water fetching from a small hand-dug open well in Nongpok Sekmai River during an ethnographic study for my M.Phil research. In those days, the water was so hygienic and clean as we see on the three visual pictures as shown in this text. My loving mother was fetching water for drinking and cooking. In fact, we even drank the water by kneeling down by the river side after a heavy work in the field or while returning from the hill with the firewoods. The children even used to drink it after their football game.
It was one of the sources of drinking and cooking from this small hand-dug well. The other sources of drinking and cooking purposes are pond water and tin-roofed harvested water during the rainy season. There is no alternative than these sources. There are still children in this lovely village that never see tap water in their lifetime. Even after a decade or so, Nongpok Sekmai and surrounding villages are still deprived of the provision of tap water supply. The pertinent question is, when will the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) get fulfilled in these villages?
Visual picture depicts the ecological balance and community belongings and river as their part of everyday life in the village. However, the fate of the river and its narrative changes 11 years later.
Today, the beautiful pebbles of stones are no more. The rolling stones naturally cleaned the water ecosystem in this river. Nevertheless, this cycle of cleaning the water is being disturbed by anthropogenic activities and human lust for money.
The present scenario of the Nongpok Sekmai river ecosystem is shocking. The river ecosystem was healthy and flowing free in 2013 as we succinctly see in the above three visual pictures but now it is in a severely degraded state. What happened to the Nongpok Sekmai River ecosystem?
Who facilitates the activities of removing stones and sand miners in the upstream river ecosystem? The private operators and contractors who are connected with powers and might are the ones that destroy the river. They only have their own interests of making profits but always refuse to talk to save the river ecosystem.
In the upstream, the private operators and contractors have removed the body of the river, the stones and sands and now the life of the river will soon disappear at any time in future. The grave concern is that the level of water flow is decreasing day by day gradually.
In the upstream almost all stones and sands are removed. Where is the law to protect the rivers of Manipur including Nongpok Sekmai River? Privatization and lust of money have exploited the river ecosystem tremendously in these few years. For centuries, the people have been the custodians of the river ecosystem but now there are only few who are gravely concerned for the future. In this connection the women of the surrounding villages including Nongpok Sekmai blocked the entry of several trucks carrying stones from the river.
What kind of development it is! When the river ecosystem is badly damaged and when there is no water to drink or cook, what shall we do? But, the question is, will these trucks again return? Who knows? This is a humble appeal to the concerned authority not to send them again to destroy the river which is the life of the people. Let the people be the real custodians of the river ecosystem.
They are the mothers and sisters of the villages. In fact, we should honour them as great leaders in our society. They are gravely concerned about the river and its ecosystem. For our future well-being and for sons and daughters, they are combating the private operators and contractors by tooth and nail. Listen to the voices of these respectable mothers and sisters and save the Nongpok Sekmai river and its upstream ecosystem! Listen to the voices of these respectable mothers and sisters and save the Nongpok Sekmai river and its upstream ecosystem!