There is some truth in what the Minister Leishangthem @ Yaima says about rats and river-banks, although it became a running joke on social media inviting lots and lots of memes. People simply could not believe what they were hearing from the lips of a minister.
But one must say Minister Yaima is no stranger to riverbank consolidation and retaining walls in his career as a contractor-cum-supplier and that of politics. Perhaps, it must be the brash attitude which had in the past landed him in controversies even among his colleagues in politics. That being said, let us proceed to analysing rat behaviour in river banks. It is mostly because of the garbage that we dump in the riverbanks as an easy way out. In places where municipal garbage collectors are yet to reach, the riverbank is a convenient dumping site. They think the river will take away the garbage in its current unmindfulness of where the garbage is ultimately leading to. A clear example should be the Nambul River and Naga rivulet which runs through Imphal city and dumps all garbage that it brought into the Loktak Lake.
Yes again, where do rats live and thrive? Rats live in filthy places. Home for a rat can be a sewer, dumpster, alley, or garbage dump where it might feed on animal or human faeces, dead animals, or rotting garbage. So, it is but natural for rats to thrive in garbage dumps in the riverbanks. Again, rats like to dig their nest burrows under concrete slabs or other large, heavy objects and can undermine exterior walls, causing collapse. Their burrows damage roads, levees, and sewer systems. Imagine, what rats could do in the riverbanks which we citizens have transformed into. So, when the river is flowing to its full capacity and with a strong current, it is bound to strike at the weak spots in the riverbank and the nest burrows of the rats certainly plays the spoiler. And the rat nest burrows do play a role in breaching the riverbanks, besides several other factors.
Rats do have an interesting history in Manipur. There was once a state cooperative store in Paona Bazar where most of the stock went missing and a question came up in the state assembly question hour. The minister concerned gave a reply that the insides of most radio transistors and other electronic gadgets in stock were found eaten up by rats. And it became a fireside story.
Then again, in the past grains in terms of thousands of bags often go missing in the godowns of the infamous Food & Civil Supplies directorate (FCS) now re-christened as Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (CAFPD). It is a directorate which has several scandals under its belt, while many of its successful transport contractors have prospered and went on to become politicians. Here also, the main culprit for the missing grain turned out to be rats. Presently, Minister L Sushildro @ Yaima is in charge of the controversial department and he is the envy of every legislator. Many a times he has had a spat with his colleagues who tried to force their way in the workings of the directorate and distribution of monthly quota of rice. So, he should be extra careful of rats invading the godowns of CAFPD once again.
(The views expressed are personal)
