IDP resettlement plan lacks clarity: Meghachandra
Source: Chronicle News Service

Bishnupur, July 09 2025: While contending that the three phase resettlement plan for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) announced by chief secretary PK Singh is not a plan for rehabilitation of the IDPs but to shift them to the pre-fabricated houses, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra said the Congress party rejects such plan which is bereft of clarity on bringing permanent solution.

Speaking to media persons Wednesday on the sidelines of assessing progress of the under-construction 306 pre-fabricated houses at Phubala under Moirang assembly constituency and Saiton under Kumbi AC, Meghachandra informed that 3000 pre-fabricated houses have been constructed till date with total expenditure of Rs 145.18 crore.

Stating that the Phubala and Saiton facilities are being carried out under the second phase of pre-fabricated house construction, Meghachandra expressed dissatisfaction over sluggish pace of the work entrusted to a government agency.

Asserting that three phase resettlement plan is unacceptable to the Congress party as it does not encompass clear-cut policy on addressing grievances of the IDPs, the MPCC president noted that the resettlement plan aimed for rolling out in July, October and December, has no clarity on when IDPs from both the affected communities could return to their original homes.

As the resettlement plan for people displaced by a long-drawn conflict lacks clarity, possibility of deepening the existing divide between the Meetei and the Kuki-Zo people cannot be ruled out, Meghachandra cautioned.

He said the decision to complete the resettlement plan by December would merely result in shifting the IDPs from relief camps to prefabricated units, instead of facilitating their return to the homes they abandoned or were forced to leave.

"This resettlement plan is unacceptable to the Congress because the government is unclear.

There is no concrete road map, and it is designed to deepen the division between the communities and prolong the displacement of the IDP," he reiterated.

Further alleging that there are no efforts by the government under the President's Rule to bring the two communities together, he also expressed strong resentment that even after over two years of the unrest situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not found time to visit the state or discuss the conflict in Parliament or elsewhere, as if Manipur is not a part of India.

The Congress president also berated at the state government for claiming that Meetei and Kuki-Zo farmers "working eyeball to eyeball" on the periphery of the Imphal Valley have begun sharing water.

"Water has always been flowing down from the hills to the valley areas naturally, especially during monsoon," he pointed out, insisting that the government should show seriousness in thinking about peace to let the communities live together and share resources.

"The government is responsible for what has happened so far, and it has to take care of what will happen.

But this government of the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah is not serious, not sincere," Meghachandra said.

He also deplored inordinate delay in completing construction of pre-fabricated houses by Manipur Police Housing Corporation Limited citing non-release of sanctioned project fund.

The Congress president, accompanied by party members and workers, first visited the site of 183 pre-fabricated houses at Phubala, where they found that no work has started for 48 houses.

At Saiton, the team encountered that out of the planned 123 houses, 73 houses were at the foundation stage only.

Mention may be made that while announcing the resettlement plan recently, chief secretary PK Singh had claimed that some of the internally displaced people have started "going back", their number reducing from the initial 62,000 to 57,000 .

Those who exited the relief camps moved into prefabricated houses, each measuring 20 feet by 20 feet and worth Rs 9.3 lakh.

Most of the occupied houses are in the Imphal East and Imphal West districts.

PK Singh said that the three-phase resettlement plan for the IDPs had been worked out with the Centre.

The first of these three phases was underway, and the next two phases would be undertaken in October and December, he informed.

Comment