Decommission Mapithel Dam call raised
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 23 2024: The Mapithel Dam Affected Headmen, Chiefs, Elders Organization (MDAHCEO) has urged the Government to decommission Mapithel Dam.

Speaking to the media at Manipur Press Club today, MDAHCEO chairman M Ngaranmi said that Mapithel Dam was inaugurated on December 4, 2020 and people expected good things from it.

Saying that the Government, however, hasn't delivered any of the assurances given during the signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) pertaining to the construction of Mapithel Dam, he added that 18 points were agreed in the MoA.

Ngaranmi said that the Government hasn't released half of the economic livelihood and rehabilitation package to the affected families till today despite it being the first point of the agreement.

Continuing that the people who reside near the dam are apprehensive now as the the Government has failed to keep their words, he urged the Government to dismantle the dam.

He went on to state that the villagers were able to provide for their families easily by planting crops and rearing cattle before the construction of Mapithel Dam but the situation is otherwise now.

Ngaranmi said that they have also written seven--eight times to the Water Resources Minister to dismantle the dam as the Government has failed to keep their side of the bargain.

Saying that they will write to the Chief Minister and the Governor too to decommission the dam if there is no response from the Water Resources Minister within a week, he clarified that they are not raising the issue as a challenge to the Government.

"We supported the Government but the Government neglected us," he said and added that what they have been asking is to only deliver what was agreed in the MoA and nothing more.

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