Govt's silence on LHEP decommissioning call
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 12, 2023 -

Of late, the popular demand for decommissioning the ever-controversial Loktak Hydro-Electric Project (LHEP) in the state of Manipur seems to have gained some traction once again following the move by National Hydro Electric Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited for extension of the period for implementing the project for another 25 years.

With promise of generating 105-megawatt of power to provide electricity to the whole northeast India and irrigation facility to around 24,000 hectares of farmlands around the Loktak Lake in Bishnupur district, construction work on the mega power project was taken up by the Ministry of Irrigation and Power in 1971.

After its commissioning in june, 1983, NHPC took over the power project as the executing agency.

Though the initial agreement entered with the power corporation for commercial operation of the Loktak Project was for 35 years, an extension of five years was given at the end of the agreed 35-year-period in 2018.

So, the agreement with NHPC for running the project essentially ended in May this year.

But the power corporation, which doesn't have too many projects of its own to boast about in the North East region and so projecting the Loktak Hydro Electric Project often as an example of successful project it has implemented in the region for seeking public support in taking up the Lower Subansiri project, another controversial power project on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, whose construction works had to be stalled for eight years following strong public protests over environmental concerns, has proposed further extension of operating the Loktak project for another 25 years.

And, this is what has led to the current renewed public demand for decommissioning of the project, which has fallen short not only of the promises given for providing adequate electricity and irrigation facility, but also done great harm to ecosystem of Loktak lake, which is not just the largest freshwater lake in the northeast India but also a Ramsar-designated wetland of international importance and home to the highly endangered brow-antlered, or Sangai deer.

Considering the overall impact of Loktak Hydro Electric Project on both ecology and livelihood of local communities, the BJP-led government in Manipur as well as party leadership in the state have made their reservations to the continuation of the project known to the government of India in the past.

While the state's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and the Joint Secretary of the state's Forest and Environment Department had written separate letters to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests asking for the constitution of an "expert committee to carry out environmental assessment of the Ithai Barrage (Coffer Dam) of the Loktak Hydro Electric Project" way back in June, 2017;

M Asnikumar Singh, who is now the chairman of Loktak Development Authority (LDA), had categorically stated "The people of Manipur can live without the Loktak Project but we cannot develop without the Loktak" in a press statement released when he was the vice president of BJP Manipur unit in July, 2017.

Following these developments that mirrored the popular demand, the then Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla had revealed while taking part in a programme that she was "working very hard for the removal of Ithai barrage" due to its adverse economic and ecological impact.

When the issue subsequently reached the floor of Manipur Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Biren had also stated on July 30, 2022 that his government was examining the possibility of decommissioning Loktak Hydroelectric Project in response to a policy cut motion raised during discussion on the demand for grants of Power Department.

But it seems that all these efforts of the government of Manipur and the ruling BJP's leadership in the state have come to nought, or at best, given a backseat today, forcing the people to renew the demand for decommissioning of a power project for which the NHPC itself had admitted to non-existence of any memorandum of understanding or agreement (MoU) signed with the government of Manipur in the first place.