Nongmaikhong pours out Ithai Barrage woes
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 07 2017: Villagers of Nongmaikhong today narrated pain and trauma inflicted upon them by the Ithai Barrage to a team comprising of media persons, North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF) members and delegates of Eastern Himalayan People's Convention on Protection of Indigenous People and Natural Resources who visited the village today .

The visit was organized as a fact finding mission by North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF) as part of the ongoing Eastern Himalayan People's Convention on Protection of Indigenous People and Natural Resources .

Nongmaikhong pours out Ithai Barrage woes

A public meeting on de-commissioning Ithai Barrage and Loktak Project was also held today at the residence of the local Pradhan .

Narrating their tales of woes and suffering, some villagers said that 83,500 hectares of paddy fields have been submerged under water due to the Ithai Barrage.

The remaining land portions which have not been submerged too cannot be used for agricultural activities and fish farms as these areas too face recurring floods every year, a resident said .

He went on to say that the villagers used to produce abundant quantity of rice every year but they are now buying exported rice from shops .

One woman said that she relied on fish farming and fishing in lakes and rivers for her family's livelihood and she was able to run her family and meet educational expenses without much difficulty .

But now with her means of income cut off, the whole family has been suffering a lot and even children's education has been affected, she lamented .

She further said that they now find rearing cattle very hard as frequent floods have destroyed all the grazing fields .

An elderly man from Wangoo Sandangkhong who attended the meeting said that before the commissioning of Ithai Barrage, many neighbouring villagers used to come in Wangoo Sandangkhong and Chairen to make their earnings by engaging in agricultural and fishing activities .

However, many of the villagers of Wangoo Sandangkhong have now migrated to other places in search of livelihood as the village is no longer suitable for agricultural works as the village faces floods when the gates of Ithai Barrage are opened and drought like situation in fields when closed .

Delegates and all the people present at the meeting expressed that any developmental project should not pose threats to people.

They also observed that most of the developmental projects like dam constructions; oil and minerals extraction in North East region often turn out to be against the interest of indigenous people of the region as they face more disadvantages than advantages .

The meeting unanimously decided to unite the people of North East and stop construction of dams and extraction of oil and minerals in North East region and also to strive together to get Ithai Barrage de-commissioned .

Later, the team also inspected Ithai Barrage.