IMPHAL, Oct 19: Village headmen/chiefs of the villages affected by the Thoubal Multipurpose Project (Mapithel Dam) in Manipur are angry over the government’s alleged failure to implement the rehabilitation and resettlement plans agreed upon in the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).
The Mapithel Dam Affected Headmen, Chiefs & Elders Organization (MDAHCEO) has urged the government to decommission the dam, citing violations of the “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013”.
Addressing a press conference at the Manipur Press Club in Imphal recently, MDAHCEO chairman M Ngaranmi expressed the villagers’ frustration, stating that the government’s inaction has left the villages in the state of uncertainty.
He lamented that the State Government has ignored most of the 18 points related to the Economic Livelihood Rehabilitation Packages included in the MoA which was signed between the village headmen/chiefs/elders of the affected villagers and the State Government in 2020.
Ngaranmi said that the Director of the Ministry of Welfare TD Division, Government of India, had approved and cleared their rehabilitation and resettlement plan in 1997.
The chairman then demanded the government to decommission the dam if it cannot meet the points agreed in the MoA. (NNN)