The organisations also called upon the state government to repeal The Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act 2006 and to replace the same by the National Wetlands (Management and Conservation) Rules 2017.
TFM Desk
Several organisations of fishing community, farmers and environmentalist on Saturday demanded that the government of Manipur should scrap the “controversial” Loktak Development Authority (LDA) and to constitute a new body “having scientific temperament and focused on sustainable livelihoods of the local communities”.
There should be only one Chairperson for all wetlands and not two separate Chairs for LDA and a separate one for other wetlands. There should be cohesion in the functioning and implementation, said these organisations.
A statement jointly issued by Oinam Rajen, secretary of All Loktak Lake Areas Fishers Union Manipur; Salam Joy, secretary of Pumlen Pat Koidum Lamjao Kanba Apunba Lup and Tongbram Brajarmohan, secretary of Upokpi Khunou Fisherman Society said that after a threadbare discussion, it was resolved to call upon the state to repeal The Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act 2006 and to replace the same by National Wetlands (Management and Conservation) Rules 2017.
These resolutions were adopted in the meeting attended by several organizations, village unions of Pumlen and Loktak and the agriculture based LOUSAL. The meeting discussed issues surrounding wetland management in Manipur particularly Loktak and Pumlen. Representatives from Upokpi Khunou, Bishnupur, Champu Khangpok, lshok, and Pumlen Pat of Loktak and Sarik, Nongmaikhong, representatives from Arong villages of Pumlen wetland region and civil society organizations from Imphal.
The meeting further reiterated that the state government must respect the rights of the fishing community living in Loktak and Purnlen Pat wetlands in tune with the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples and as outlined in the guidelines of the national Wetlands (Management and Conservation) Rules, 2017.
The organisations also appealed the state government to desist from violating the rights of the local communities while planning development projects and to respect the pre-existing rights and privileges of local communities in any fora with development agenda.
“We demand that a series of open, inclusive and public consultations must be held before notifying _any wetlands. This is also mandatory under the Wetlands Rules 2017”, added the release.