JAC meets Governor Najma Heptulla
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 18 2016:
The Joint Action Committee on Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Chadong Village (JAC-RRCV) led by its convenor W Kasar met Governor Dr Najma Heptulla and submitted a lengthy memorandum containing a 12-point demand.
In the memorandum the Chadong village JAC mentioned that their "village has been submerged" by Mapithel Dam/ Thoubal Multi- Purpose project constructed to harness the water of Thoubal river for providing irrigation facilities, power generation, augmentation of water supply to Imphal city and to reduce substantially the chances of flood damage in the downstream.
The project was sanctioned by the Planning Commission, Government of India in May, 1980 and is monitored centrally through the Central Water Commission and by the State through the State Planning Department and implemented by the IFCD, Government of Manipur.
According to the Joint Action Committee on Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Chadong Village (JAC-RRCV), the village has been completely submerged by the dam water since June 2015 and the paddy fields and agricultural lands have been inundated since May 2014 totally displacing the villagers and forcing them to seek shelter in the neighbouring villages and towns without proper provisions for Rehabilitation and Resettlement programs.
The JAC-RRCV said they are left without any alternative means of livelihood.
"There is acute shortage of food and other essential commodities in the village and the dam has become a big threat to the future of the poor tribal villagers of Chadong and the neighbouring villages," it added.
According to the JAC, the dam is set to be commissioned in the month of September 2016 completely ignoring to rehabilitate and resettle Chadong village.
The new village site has not been properly developed, it said and added that the transportation of building materials to the site is not possible due to bad road condition.
There is no electricity and water supply.
Basic amenities are totally not available making it impossible for new settlement, the JAC stated.
In this connection, the JAC-RRCV in the memorandum appealed Manipur Governor Dr Najma Heptulla to look into the matter "so that the poor tribal villagers who have sacrificed their land and livelihood in the larger interest of the State are not victimised and turned into refugees in their own land by the construction of this Mapithel Dam" .