Lamlai Khunou Village not likely to get totally submerged by Dam water
Source: Hueiyen News Service / James Khagenbam

Imphal, July 04 2015 : Villagers of Lamlai Khunou near the under construction Mapithel dam have no plan to move away despite the fact that their paddy fields, grazing grounds, etc are submerged in the ingressing dam water.

These villagers make out their living through shifting cultivation and they feel that at a new settlement they will not find enough space for cultivation and they have no other means of earning.

The village has a population of around 700 people in 241 homes.

Samuel Ningthouja along with his friends of the same village was chopping down pine trees when Hueiyen Lanpao reporters visited the village.

A make-shift bridge that connects Lamlai Khunou to neigbouring areas

They were expecting compensation for the pine trees numbering to around 500 which they had planted 25 years back.

They are in hurry to cut down the trees since the dam waters are fast ingressing and there may be no time to finish their jobs.

P Mahangmi the village chief during an interaction said that he received a compensation of Rs 14 lakh for his house, Rs 1 lakh for his paddy and Rs 50,000 for his land in April 2013.Likewise most of the villagers have received their compensation.

However their resettlement is not finalised.

They fear that if their village shift to a new location they have to pay for the land as most of the nearby hills are owned by private individuals.

He also informed that his present house will be just 20 feet above the highest water level of the Mapithel Dam once it is commissioned.

The village chief wants to continue shifting cultivation in the available land nearby his house.

They are depending on a single ground water source for drinking at present.

The road connecting the village is waist deep in dam waters at certain points and they have constructed a 2 feet wide footpath along the hills and 3 to 4 bamboo and wood bridges are connecting one hill to another.

It is also learned that some 10 to 15 houses of the village will be submerged in the water in due course of time while the neighbouring Chadong village is expected to be totally submerged in dam water.

On the other hand, unmindful of the human tragedy a large number of persons are coming to these villages in canoes in picnic mood to see the swirling water which has inundated all low lying areas.