Dimapur, Feb 3 : The reported recent move of Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh convening a meeting with all stake-holder companies on February 4 February to start work on the controversial Tipaimukh dam is decried. The Committee on Land & Natural Resources (COLNAR) today denounced the Manipur government’s move saying that the government is taking the action without considering the people’s long-standing concerns and apprehensions.
In a statement today, the committee reiterated the call for total scrapping of the Tipaimukh Mega Dam Project.
The controversial Tipaimukh Mega Dam Project to be constructed over the Barak River of Manipur bordering Mizoram and Assam, initially designed to contain flood water in Assam State was rejected twice by the Manipur Legislative Assemble citing three reasons. The reasons were that the region is a “seismologically” sensitive area; the reasons of environmental hazards and unaddressed rehabilitation and resettlement issues.
“Till date the confidence of the assembly and all the communities both from up stream and down stream has not taken into consideration,” the committee stated.
The Governor in-council had given a ground clearance to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Manipur and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd. It was signed on January 9, notwithstanding repeated call of the local peoples for respect to their rights to participate in all decision making process of the project. “The affected peoples have repeatedly denounced the project in the five public hearings to get the environmental clearance under heavily militarised environment,” the committee stated.
“The COLNAR considers the chief minister’s move to convene meeting of the companies for Tipaimukh dam construction as direct intrusions and disregard to the concerns of affected people and to destroy the flourishing aged old civilisation of the Indigenous Land and its people, socially, culturally, economically and politically,” the committee stated. The committee has reiterated its demand for total scrapping of the Tipaimukh Mega Dam Project and to look for people-friendly alternatives.