Manipur grapples with waste crisis as Imphal transforms from model city to pollution hotspot

A stark warning about Manipur's deteriorating urban environment emerged today as experts gathered for a two-day seminar on solid waste management, highlighting how the state capital has fallen from environmental grace since the 1970s.

The seminar on "Solid Waste Management: Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future" opened at the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change in Porompat, bringing together officials and engineers to address what speakers described as an urgent environmental crisis.

Manipur University Vice Chancellor Lokendra Singh painted a troubling picture of urban decay, revealing how Imphal was once considered an exemplary clean city in the early 1970s. That reputation has crumbled under relentless unplanned development and widespread encroachment of public spaces, including playgrounds, ponds, streets and natural drainage systems.

Singh attributed the transformation to hasty development projects launched after Manipur achieved statehood, suggesting construction began without proper landscape surveys despite significant funding from the central government. The unchecked encroachment of public land has compounded the problem, turning the once-pristine capital into an overcrowded and unhygienic urban centre.

The scale of the waste challenge became apparent when Environment and Climate Change Director Tourangbam Brajakumar revealed that 27 urban local bodies under Imphal's jurisdiction generate massive volumes of household solid waste daily. Municipal collection services manage only a fraction of this waste, leaving substantial amounts scattered across the city and causing severe environmental pollution.

Brajakumar emphasised the urgent need to enforce single-use plastic bans effectively and proposed mandatory plantation of the state tree "Uningthou" as a cleanup measure. He stressed individual responsibility in waste management, advocating for the three-R approach: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

The seminar, jointly organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) Manipur State Centre with the Department of Environment and Climate Change and the Department of MAHUD, aims to develop innovative solutions for the state's waste management crisis.

Singh called for integrating solid waste management into academic curricula, arguing that education and awareness remain fundamental to building a sustainable future. The gathering underscored growing recognition that immediate action is needed to prevent further environmental degradation in one of India's northeastern states.

MAHUD and IPR Director Ngangom Uttam Singh and IEI Manipur State Centre Chairman L. Swamikanta Singh also participated in the opening session.