Laishram Ranbir
The ongoing renovation works being carried out by officials of Public Work Department (PWD) at Kangla moat turned ugly after a large people throng at the sacred place to catch fish from the moat.
In view of the upcoming Sangai Festival, the department took up the beautification work by ditching out water from the moat to repair the aged old retaining walls.
Taking advantage of the renovation works, men, women including children in large number thronged at the spot to catch fish.
However, the apprehension is that a large number of rare local fish species that were being preserved in the sacred pond for years have been caught by the people to their heart content.
Speaking to Imphal Times, one of the fishers said they caught many different types of fishes including rare local species.
“They could not even count as they have caught huge number of fish from the moat since yesterday morning. Even some of the people stayed till late night fishing from the moat.” told a fisherman from Wangkhei.
He also said that, if possible he will spend the night at Kangla moat so that he could catch more fish.
Few days back, few hand grenades were recovered from the moat while the water was being drain out. No one knows what could be there inside the Kangla moat.
It is also felt that since the spot is one of the protected important historical sites of the state, there could be many valuable ancestral items even inside the moat. Due to such unrestraint entry of people inside the moat, valuable relics could land in wrong hands.
In this regard, the state government and concern authority need to take up due care and ensure that valuable items relating to the history of Manipur are kept intact inside the historic site.
