Riha, Thoyee demand revocation of Cabinet decision
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 10 2011: Alleging that the Cabinet decision of September 13, 2011 regarding rehabilitation and resettlement of Mapithel Dam affected villages was an outcome of the meeting held on September 1 between IFCD officials and the vested interest group, the Mapithel Dam Multipurpose Project Displaced Villages Committee (MDMPDVC), the chairmen/headmen of Riha and Thoyee villages have submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking his intervention towards revoking the same Cabinet decision.

The memorandum pointed out that the Expert Review Committee constituted by the State Government recommended uniformity in implementation of resettlement and rehabilitation packages and extension of the same benefits to all the affected villages whether or not they have been submerged by the dam, as well as construction of a suitable bridge for Thoyee and Riha villages.

The committee also recommended revising the resettlement and rehabilitation packages at the present market rates/admissible rates.

However, the Government seems to have cast away all these recommendations and the whole review process.

The IFCD officials have been in cahoots with the alleged illegal MDMPDVC with a possible intention to misappropriate a huge amount of public fund for their own selfish ends in the name of Chadong and Lamlai Khunou (now Ramrei) .

It also contended that the agreement reached between IFCD and MDMPDVC was invalid as the negotiation was carried out in the absence and without any knowledge of the affected villages.

Reminding about the Memorandum of Agree Terms and Conditions signed between the Government and the Mapithel Dam Affected Villages Organisation (MDAVO) in 1993, the village chairmen/headmen asserted that the Cabinet has no right to arbitrarily re-fix the rate of amount for the rehabilitation and resettlement packages until and unless the agreement of 1993 is reviewed or amended in line with the observations and recommendations made by the Expert Review Committee (ERC) .

The Government, by its flip-flop decisions, has deprived these two villages of their rights and has made the ERC and MDAVO a mockery in total defiance of the public interests.

In another case, IFCD and Finance Department officials, ignoring the recommendations of the ERC, executed rehabilitation and resettlement packages in Ramrei village (erstwhile Lamlai Khullen) according to their own whims and convenience, creating ill-feeling and misunderstanding among the villages.

Alleging that the Government has committed a number of irregularities and illegal actions with regard to resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected villages, the village chairmen/headmen sought immediate intervention of the Governor and also to initiate disciplinary action against IFCD and Finance Department officials under Manipur Public Servants Personal Liability Act 2005 for trying to misappropriate public fund.

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