Imphal, January 08: Besides the various relief measures taken up by various social organizations of the State to provide aid to the people of Tamenglong dist who are currently facing a famine like situation due to the destruction of standing crops by rodents this year, the State Govt has constituted task forces to assess the situation in the State.

Mention may be made here that about 68% of the total agricultural products produced in Tamenglong Dist this year was destroyed by rodents which multiplied alarmingly following the flowering of bamboos.

The worst affected sub divisions include Tamei, Tamenglong, Nungba and Tousem.

Meanwhile two task forces, one State level and another district level, have recently been constituted by the State Govt with the primary aim of studying the affected areas and also to initiate necessary measures to aid the famine stricken victims, said Gojen, Agriculture Officer, who is also in charge of rodent control of the Dist.

Informing that the Chief Secretary is the chairman of the State level task force, the Deputy Commissioner of Tamenglong is taking the same post in the dist level, he said adding that the Relief Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest among others are the members of the State level task force.

The district Agricultural Forest Officers, Sub-Divisional Officers among others are the members of the dist level task force, he said and continued that the two units would submit report on the situation of the dist on monthly basis to the Govt.The Govt would then study the report of the two task forces, he added.

Recently the State Govt has also requested the Centre for aiding the famine stricken people of the district after making a thorough study of the affected areas, he said.

Besides declaring the menace as a natural calamity, the State Govt has also appointed one officer in the State Forest Dept as a nodal officer to assess the menace, said Gojen.

Answering to a query, the officer stated that various remedial measure like distribution of rodenticide, rat traps and awareness programmes to counter the menace have also been taken up by the Agriculture Department.

He however added that rodenticides and rat traps could not be sufficiently distributed due to lack of fund.

In the meantime, the Famine Relief Committee for Tamenglong set up on Oct 18 2003 by various social apex bodies under the initiation of the All Manipur United Clubs Organization (AMUCO), is all set to disburse relief materials to the famine stricken victims in the dist within the next few days.

So far the committee has been able to collect over 500 bags of paddy and Rs one lakh from the public.

The collected food materials and money would be disbursed in phase wise manner.

Besides AMUCO, the other apex bodies of the committee include All Manipur Ethnical Socio-cultural Organization (AMESCO), Manipur Truck Owner's Welfare Association (MTOWA), Manipur Driver's Welfare Association (MDWA) and Zeliangrong (ZU) Imphal Zone.

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