World’s only floating island village on Loktak Lake urges Manipur government to fulfil long-pending promise after years of neglect, stalled assessments and past eviction threats.
TFM Report
Assessed as a one-of-its-kind floating settlement found nowhere else in the world, the Champu Khangpok Floating Island Village on Loktak Lake continues to wait for the State government to fulfil its promise of granting it revenue village status.
Currently recognised only as a census village under Thanga Part-I Gram Panchayat in Moirang subdivision of Bishnupur district, the
village has around 140 households. Both the Bishnupur district administration and the Loktak Development Authority (LDA) had earlier assured that revenue village status would be accorded after due assessment. The State’s electoral roll published on January 6, 2025 lists 320 electors—184 males and 136 females—from the floating settlement.
Speaking during the observance of International Human Rights Day on December 10 at the village, All Loktak Lake Areas Fishers’ Union, Manipur (ALLAFUM) secretary Oinam Rajen Singh urged the government to expedite the process, stressing that Champu Khangpok is the world’s only living floating island village.
Recalling several rounds of meetings held with the then Deputy Commissioner of Bishnupur, Lourembam Bikram Singh, and former LDA chairman Moirangthem Asnikumar Singh, Rajen lamented that none of the follow-up actions have materialised despite repeated assurances.
After the Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act, 2006 came into force, state agencies made multiple eviction attempts between 2010 and 2013, branding the residents as “illegal occupiers” of the lake. During this period, 777 phumshang (floating hut) shelters of fisher families in Langolsabi and Komjao localities were burnt down, resulting in extensive loss of property including fishing gear, food, clothing and household belongings.
The villagers, however, resisted the evictions, asserting their traditional rights as indigenous fishing families who have lived on the lake for generations. Their resistance prompted the authorities to partially withdraw the eviction drive.
Acknowledging the uniqueness of Champu Khangpok as a living floating island settlement built upon phumdi (floating biomass), the district administration and LDA later agreed to demarcate a 5 sq km water body in the lake’s central zone for the village to exist as a distinct and integral feature of Loktak.
Noting the harsh living conditions endured by families who live on phumdi in open waters, Rajen appealed to the district administration to grant revenue village status so that the marginalized community can access government schemes and welfare benefits available to other revenue villages.
Earlier, on October 27 this year, the Champu Khangpok Floating Island Village Welfare Committee submitted a petition to the Bishnupur DC, urging a field visit and fresh assessment of their long-pending demand.
Meanwhile, the Loktak Development Authority officially acknowledged the village’s contribution to lake conservation during the World Wetlands Day observation on February 2, 2025.