Manipur: Heavy fuel leakage from Leimakhong power station, Imphal river at risk

A sense of panic prevails after leakage of “heavy fuel” was reported from Manipur’s Leimakhong Power Station in Imphal West. The leakage has led to spillover of the discharge along streams passing through Kantosabal and Sekmai where people in the areas are dependent on the streams for their livelihood.

Most importantly, the stream meets the Imphal river downstream by flowing through Khurkhul-Loitang-Kameng-Iroisemba-Nambul.

Taking note of the evolving situation, the Manipur Government has issued a directive to all concerned authorities to take immediate necessary action to prevent an environmental calamity, making use of all available resources in terms of machinery, manpower and expertise.

“The response mechanism/SoP for such events may be immediately activated,” a notification signed by N Geoffery, Secretary to Chief Minister N Biren Singh stated.

As per inputs, to prevent further environment calamity, locals of Kantosabal along with security forces and Disaster Management teams have successfully blocked the stream, before the spillage could pollute other rivers downstream such as the vital Imphal river.

Locals used earthmovers to divert the polluted water from the stream into nearby fields in Kanto Sabal after which the fuel was set on fire. Environment Minister Th. Bishwajit also visited the site and took stock of the situation on ground.

However, what led to the oil spillage is yet to be ascertained.