IMPHAL, Nov 16 : The JAC on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Chadong village released a compilation of the documents and media reports of the struggles of the Mapithel Dam affected villagers of Chadong entitled The Lost Village, the Chadong Villa…
IMPHAL, Nov 16 : The JAC on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Chadong village released a compilation of the documents and media reports of the struggles of the Mapithel Dam affected villagers of Chadong entitled The Lost Village, the Chadong Village, at Manipur Press Club today.
The post The Lost Village, the Chadong Village released appeared first on The Sangai Express.
Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/lost-village-chadong-village-released/
IMPHAL, Aug 18 : JAC on R&R of Chadong village which was constituted to fight for the rights of the villagers today urged the authorities concerned to redress Chadong villagers.
The post JAC urges to restore Chadong village appeared first on The Sangai Express.
IMPHAL, Aug 18 : JAC on R&R of Chadong village which was constituted to fight for the rights of the villagers today urged the authorities concerned to redress Chadong villagers.
The post JAC urges to restore Chadong village appeared first on The Sangai Express.
Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/jac-urges-restore-chadong-village/
Chadong Villagers witness submergence of their village along with all its priceless identities and history. The government`s developmental design has created another island in the State by submerging the erstwhile fertile
Chadong Villagers witness submergence of their village along with all its priceless identities and history. The government`s developmental design has created another island in the State by submerging the erstwhile fertile plains of village of Chadong. It is a classical case where the woes of the affected people are completely ignored by the State, imposing its policy by hoodwinking some people with compensation and militarizing the area to continue with its `anti-people` project.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/07/mapithel-dam-chadong-village-submerges-under-water/
Chadong village will no longer be where it has been for generations. In the weeks ahead, all that once constituted the village would be underwater. An artificial lake reservoir is
The bridge connecting Chadong village to other villages lay submerged in water.
Photo: IFP
Chadong village will no longer be where it has been for generations. In the weeks ahead, all that once constituted the village would be underwater. An artificial lake reservoir is in the making, now that the Mapithel Dam Project over the Mapithel river which meanders down into the valley to become the Thoubal river, is complete and the dam floodgates are being lowered. The beautiful Chadong village, nestled in a narrow valley, is below the dam height and will be submerged. If the government has its way to convince all the villagers to agree to an alternate site for the village in the higher reaches of the same mountain range, a new Chadong village will hopefully grow to prosper there as a lakeside settlement. They will no longer have their beloved river and the strips of flatlands which nurtured their paddy fields to behold with pride, but a new, miles wide lake in its place. It has not been an easy farewell for the villagers, as media reports and photographs of the agony of those who have been resisting evacuation are evidence. They are now forced to abandon their homes on makeshift rafts and canoes as the flood waters continually rise to engulf their former homes. Now that the inevitable has happened, we do hope the government is liberal in its resettlement package, and help Chadong set roots again in the new site. For Chadong village, it could be a nightmare in the years ahead if they find it impossible to readjust to the new environment and economic macros, but it could also be the promise of the boons and bounties of a brave new world of opportunities as a lakeside town. We do hope the latter is ultimately the destiny of the village. We also hope the government ensures the blue print for such a future is not lacking in details or materials. Our prayers are with the village. Our gratitude too for the sacrifice they are made to make for what is believed to be the greater common good. We also hope it does come to be for the greater common good from which the tormented villagers are the greatest beneficiaries in the long run.
While we hope for the best, it is also difficult not to be sceptical at the same time, considering there are so many unscrupulous men (and increasingly women) in position of power at various levels of the government structure, and others enjoying the borrowed halos of power by being its brokers or else sycophantic followers of those who wield power. This predatory class of men entrusted with state power have time and again shown they can without remorse make capital of the misery of others. In the immediate context, this was loudly and painfully visible in the picture of the brand new Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, RMSA, scheme school building, constructed recently by the Education Department, Government of Manipur at Chadong village. What exactly can be made of this? It is again difficult to believe the entire decision making process of the district and state administration were not aware that the Mapithel Dam construction was nearing completion and site of the school would soon be underwater. If indeed they were unaware of this, they deserved to be dismissed from their jobs not only for their ignorance but for the waste they have caused to public tax money. Or are these politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats and contractors, so staunched in their belief in the theory of evolution that they believed by the time the dam is commissioned, children in the area as well as teachers who would be posted there would have developed gills to breath underwater.
In all likelihood, there were some who were desperate to make quick bucks. Funds for the school building under the Central government scheme would have already been earmarked in the befuddled planning process and these officials instead of pointing out the flaw in the scheme, would have seen an opportunity to make a double kill by building this school under the scheme and after it has submerged, seek more funds to build another, and in the process line their pockets twice for the same job. Two very contrasting pictures which can generalise the power structure in Manipur are therefore visible yet again in the Chadong episode. On the one hand are ordinary villagers made to make huge sacrifices for the benefit of a belief in a greater common good, and on the other are power brokers and power mongers jumping at the opportunity to enhance their selfish vested interests by manipulating and skewing this same greater common good, of which the institution of a village school definitely is a visible symbol. Besides taking care to ensure the welfare of new Chadong village, we hope the government also will institute an inquiry into this blatant and atrocious waste, if not robbery of public money, and fix responsibilities.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/07/the-school-at-chadong/
By Oinam Doren `Our feet has been tied with paya (a kind of rope made with bamboo strips) and left to die here`, laments Alungwon Muivah (52years old) who is
By Oinam Doren
`Our feet has been tied with paya (a kind of rope made with bamboo strips) and left to die here`, laments Alungwon Muivah (52years old) who is accompanying her 7 months pregnant daughter in law Chonchon Horam to the hospital. As we sat together in the boat floating on top of a vast lake which was once a blooming green field, Alungwon says she is feeling giddy. She had never seen so much water in her life.
Chadong village which is located in Ukhrul district of Manipur is one among the 11 villages that will soon be submerged under the Mapithel Dam construction of the Thoubal Multi Purpose Project. On January 10 this year, the Thoubal River was blocked, leading the water levels to rise and submerging process has already begun. Mapithel Dam stands 66 metres high and 1074 metres long. The project is set to produce 7.5 megawatt of electricity while providing 10 million gallons of water daily to Imphal, the state capital. But the project comes at the cost of displacing over 12,000 people; submerge around 11 villages and 777.34 hectares of paddy fields, 110.75 hectares of homestead, 293. 53 hectares of jhum land and 595.1 hectares of forest land.
Chonchon Horam who is just 19 years old and pregnant is experiencing giddiness and going through complications as urination has stopped. The nearest hospital is in Yaingangpokpi which is about 2 hours away and all vehicular transport movement has stopped. The two bridges connecting Chadong to the outside world, the vast green fields surrounding the village and some houses has already gone under water. As electricity has been disconnected, there is no way to charge the mobile phones and make calls for emergencies. After waiting for our turns, the only boat in the village rowed by an amateur boy takes us for a 15 minutes ride. While I was in the boat, I came to know of the problem and offered both Alungwon and Chonchon to take them to the hospital in our car. But to reach Khullen where our car was parked, Chonchon has to walk for about an hour in the scorching sun in the rough terrains and over two newly built log bridge which was not secure.
As we walk along together apologising to Chonchon about the situation and our helplessness, Alungwon shares with us her dilemma. Her husband died after 10 years of marriage leaving her with 5 kids to raise. Her only source of income was piggery, cultivating rice in the fields and collecting wild vegetables from the hills surrounding the village to sell. But all this activities has been stopped as the rising water from the dam has submerged the fields and the jungles. Their house is just waiting to be submerged in a few weeks time and they have to relocate to a new place. As we reach Khullen, we took another rough ride in our car in the bad roads for about an hour and dropped them to the government primary hospital in Yaingangpokpi.
As for now, the people in Chadong village badly need more boats, medical attention and quick rehabilitation support from the government and other agencies before the water engulf the entire village in a few weeks or months time. But so far, no officials have visited the village except for making loud claims in local newspapers.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/07/who-is-listening-to-chadong/
By Grace Jajo IMPHAL, June 25: The issue of Mapithel dam affected population remains unattended from the State government`s side even as Chadong villagers witness submergence of their village
The bridge connecting Chadong village to other villages lay submerged in water.
Photo: IFP
By Grace Jajo
IMPHAL, June 25: The issue of Mapithel dam affected population remains unattended from the State government`s side even as Chadong villagers witness submergence of their village along with all its priceless identities and history.
Such involuntary displacement of indigenous people from their habitat amounts to various aspect of rights violation by the State going by the UN statutes.
For almost three weeks, the rising water level has cut off all routes connecting Chadong Village with the outside world as the bridge connecting the village with other villages remain submerged in water.
The government`s developmental design has created another island in the State by submerging the erstwhile fertile plains of village of Chadong.
`This year our farm land was submerged with the onset of monsoon and we have been trying to survive from our homestead products. And we await our dire future lamented a widow from the village.
A single boat handled by two amateur oarsmen help the villagers cross the flooded water, the villagers said.
`If there is a case of child delivery, sick people or emergency cases, we are in a dire situation,` one of them said.
On the other hand, hordes of people irrespective of age and sex from the other side of the river flood the river bank trying to find some amusement.
`It is unfortunate that the insensitive picnickers are enjoying our misery,` said an elderly villager.
He also told this reporter that the elders in the village are helplessly watching the increasing water level. `Some of them would cry while some compose wailing folk songs in despair` he said.
The Mapithel Dam Project was halted by the National Green Tribunal as it did not have the necessary forest clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
In 2010 the first stage project clearance was granted by MoEF later the second stage clearance was obtained unfairly, alleged a member of the Mapithel Dam Affected Village Organisation(MDAVO). MDAVO has appealed against the clearance to the National Green Tribunal.
A case is also pending with the Manipur High Court.
Another member of the organisation added, the project is a clear violation of indigenous communities` rights over our ancestral land and forest.
It is a classical case where the woes of the affected people are completely ignored by the State, imposing its policy by hoodwinking some people with compensation and militarizing the area to continue with its `anti-people` project, he alleged.
The State government has also insisted on this compensation as inclusive rehabilitation without settling the rights of the affected people. Now our farms are submerged and soon our habitation and our church will also go underwater, he said.
He continued that this was after aborting the Expert Review Committee which was meant to develop a State Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy for development induced displacement of indigenous people.
About I57 households who refused the compensation and demanded the State to legally process through the Expert Review Committee stayed back in their village despite the State employing even men in uniform, he said.
The security personnel stationed near the school scared the children and there was no academic session in the village school this year. Yet the teachers posted in this school continue to draw their salary, said one of the parents.
Another woman who was selling her products on the bank of the flooded water said, it has been more than a month since the water submerged our connectivity. Each day and each night we anticipate our fate with fear yet the government seems to be least bothered. Nobody had come to check on our welfare, the concern Minister, MLA and administrators are all keeping silent. We are shocked at their attitude, she said.
Another young teacher from Ramrei Ato adds, the government told us that the river will be blocked to use the water for downstream irrigation and for generating hydel power but neither have they initiated the irrigation process nor the machinery setup for the same.
It is a forceful displacement. Even the new settlement site that the government proposed has not progress beyond initial ground leveling, said a student activist from the village.
He said we cannot shift there yet nor build temporary shelters since even the basic facilities like water and electricity are missing.
The dam water has been blocked since January 15 changing the whole physical façade of the downstream areas too.
The Mapithel Dam Project was approved by the Planning Commission in 1980 and construction had started since 1989 through the State IFCD department without obtaining the required clearance and without adhering to required procedures.
The Dam will submerge 1,215 hectares of land which includes 595 hectares under forest cover. According to the CAG report, the project has annual irrigation potential of 33,400 ha, with a cultivable command area of 21,862 ha. It will increase drinking water supply to Imphal city and surrounding areas by 45.46 million litres a day and generate 7.5 MW hydel power for rural electrification, according to the CAG report of 2003-04.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/chadong-villagers-left-in-a-lurch-as-government-maintains-silence/
