For the first time, after many years, on the 28th July hill and valley shake hands.

The meaning here is the complete and spontaneous support in a cause by the people and civil organisations both of the hills and valley. The bandh called by ACTIP against the State Government's move to go ahead with the Tipaimukh project was a total bandh seen after a time.

The writer of this column is not an expert to comment on the merits and demerits of the proposed multipurpose project and don't want to cast his vote on whether to build or not to build the project but has certainly a reservation about the ongoing hullabaloo from the authority of the district administration about the profits which may be reaped by the people of the State when the project is completed.

Development in modern jargon is a dubious word and can wear the attire of transparency and hypocrisy at the same time. There is at present two opposite schools of thought, one in support of the dam in the name of development and the other opposing it keeping in view of the damages that may cause on the environment, eco-system and culture of the people living there.

In support of the view put forward by those who oppose the dam there is still a living example. In the mid-seventies when the much hyped Loktak Hydro Electric Project was about to begin its work, the promises kept at that time was that Manipur would be turned into another heaven with sufficient (or more than enough) power supply.

But, despite tall promises by the Govt promising great changes for development when the Loktak project began to generate power, nothing actually happens.

The State has still been beset with power problems like poor supply, unannounced load shedding while the Loktak is gradually becoming a dead lake affecting seriously on the eco-system and livelihood of the surroundings.

Will it not be in the case of the proposed Tipaimukh dam? This is the core question behind the move opposing the construction of the dam.

The environmentalist and civic bodies give their views that once the Tipaimukh project is commissioned, the vast area of forest wealths, flora and fauna will disappear as hundreds of square miles of forests which are to be submerged under water and automatically will be eliminated from where they stood from times immemorial.

These are the people who feel strongly for their environment and want to protect them. Such actions of the people whom we call the environmentalist have been struggling to save their land, their heritage, their ecology.

Needless to say that the preservation of environment has come to be considered vital by all sections of society. But still, the destruction of ecology goes on uninterrupted everywhere. And in this view the Tipaimukh project is another example.

The world, in the past few decades, there has been an increasing recognition though slow, about a fact. The fact is that a different approach is needed in the planning and preserving complex eco-system such as forests, wetlands, mangroves, and estuaries.

The approach is to look at landscapes and eco-regions as a whole cutting across state and administrative boundaries. Today it is the need of the hour. It calls for a re-orientation of the 'approach' that had been adopted in relation to their eco-system.

On the other bench of the debating party there is a point, that is development attached with the Tipaimukh project.

Yes, it is not denying the fact that there will be a huge leap of development when the dam came into being. If the State Govt can actually reap the profit then there will no problem of electric power in the State.

Road communication and tourism industry will be developed. With the coming of the dam there will be network of roads connecting in and outside the State. True, there is no escape from the fact of development, the necessity and relevance of development to meet the fast increasing requirements of the people.

But the message which the people of our State may want to send out, that is, if their voice is heard by those which matters, is that development work could have been done with greater consideration of their sentiments and understanding of our forefathers who left the ecological legacy to the present generation.

So, the ultimate end point of the debate raised above, development should be there.

But it would be far more careful about our own State as it concerns the air we breathe, the soil we walk and the water we drink not only for this generation but also for future ones too.