[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
DAM-L LS: Naga Women's Union letter on Tipaimukh Dam, Manipur (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----
Return-path: <owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net>
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA05710
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Mon, 9 Jul 2001 14:59:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Received: [(from mjdomo@localhost)
by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id f69IbqC08044
for irn-narmada-list; Mon, 9 Jul 2001 11:37:52 -0700 (PDT)
(envelope-from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net)]
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 11:37:52 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200107091837.f69IbqC08044@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Naga Women's Union letter on Tipaimukh Dam, Manipur
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk
>Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 18:38:08 +0530
>From: sandrp <cwaterp@vsnl.com>
>Subject: Havoc of Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur: Ltr to Editor in EPW
>
>http://www.epw.org.in/index2.htm
>
>EPW Letters to Editor March 31, 2001
>
> Havoc of Tipaimukh High Dam Project by Aram Pamei
>
>Havoc of Tipaimukh High Dam Project
>
>The Naga Women Union, Manipur, would like to appeal to all like-minded
>people to intervene and stop the signing of memorandum of understanding
>(MoU) between the government of Manipur and the North-Eastern
>Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) concerning the proposed
>Tipaimukh rock-filled high dam. There has been no other more dreaded
>state-sponsored human rights abuse than the Tipaimukh high dam on
>Ahu (Barak) river located about 500 metres downstream of the confluence
>of the Tuivai and Ahu (Barak) rivers on the Manipur-Mizoram border. The
>proposed 162.80 metres high dam, whose primary objective is to prevent
>frequent occurrences of flood in the Cachar plain of Assam, will result
>in permanent submergence of 275.50 sq kms of land surface in Manipur.
>This is against the National Land Use Policy. The Manipur people’s
>constitutional rights were circumvented by secret approval of the
>project given during the period of central rule in Manipur, according to a
>statement given on the floor of the Manipur state assembly by the then
>minister of irrigation and flood control, government of Manipur,
>L Chandramani Singh. The government of Manipur is at present
>attempting to sign the MoU with NEEPCO without the participation of the
>people, particularly the affected people of Tamenglong district.
>
>The main sources of livelihood of the people are agriculture and
>horticulture. But with the construction of the Tipaimukh high dam more
>than 67 villages will be deprived of their source of livelihood. Out of
>the 67 villages, 16 will be completely submerged, whereas almost the entire
>lowland of the rest of the villages will be submerged by the dam along
>the banks of the three major river courses of Manipur – the Ahu (Barak), the
>Alang (Irang) and Makhu (Makru) river systems which run through the
>length of Tamenglong district of Manipur. Besides, it is feared that
>many more villages may be affected by the water level of the reservoirs
>during the rainy seasons. Thus the villages of Tamenglong district will face a
>constant threat of submergence.
>
>As a result of such massive submergence and displacement, the
>economic life of the people with a heavy dependence on the surrounding
>forests will be jeopardised. Over 15,000 people will be the direct
>victims of the dam and will be rendered landless and homeless. They will be
>deprived of their ancestral rights to their land and forest without any
>alternative source of livelihood. They will be robbed of their natural
>heritage – their access to natural resources, their land and forests
>which constitute the mainstay of any tribal economy. The implementation of the
>
>Tipaimukh high dam will destroy all potential of the Ahu (Barak)
>catchment area forever. The dam will mean virtually the total
>destruction of the world of the Zeliangrong people. The project will submerge
>altogether 60 kms of National Highway No 53, the only alternative
>lifeline NH-39 (the Imphal–Dimapur road) at three different points with two
>major bridges.
>
>The Zeliangrong people who live in these areas, like any other tribal
>people, do not lead an individualised, commodity-governed life, but live
>in a well knit web of community life. Their ancestral emotional bonds to
>their land, the mother-earth, constitute their cultural and psychological
>frame of mind and they cannot be compromised or negotiated. The submergence
>of the Ahu (Barak) waterfalls, the biggest and the most beautiful
>natural gift in Manipur, will destroy an important aspect of their heritage –
>the innumerable myths and legends woven around the waterfalls, which are
>an inalienable part of their bank of memories, inherited through
>centuries. The high watermark of the dam will also destroy five most important
>lakes located just above the Ahu waterfall where the magical sword of
>Jadonang, the national hero of the Nagas, is believed to be hidden. All
>these priceless and inalienable parts of their cultural heritage cannot
>be left to mindless destruction by the dam project authorities.
>
>The long stretch of the reservoir of the 162.80 metres high dam will
>further divide the people in terms of geo-administrative units, thereby making
>them politically vulnerable to outside influence and domination. The
>implementation of the project and its consequent displacement and
>destruction pose a grave threat to the people’s vibrant democratic
>system of consensual decision-making regarding their lives.
>
>We are concerned over the way the Tipaimukh high dam project
>authorities are out to play with and devastate the land and forests and
>the fabric of the lives of the Zeliangrong as well as the Hmar people. The
>Brahmaputra Board, Guwahati, the Central Water Commission, New
>Delhi, the North-Eastern Council, Shillong, and the North-Eastern
>Electrical Power Corporation, Shillong are all party to this plan of
>virtual genocide of the tribal people in the north-east. This is clearly
>discernible from their secretive ways of planning and
>implementation, their holding
>back every bit of information, their rejection of the local people’s
>participation and their total disregard for the tribal people’s national
>and cultural heritage.
>
> >From our own visit and observation as well as the reports available to
>us, it is absolutely clear that the Tipaimukh high dam project site is
>located on a major seismic zone No V characterised by earthquakes of
>magnitude 7 or more on the Richter scale and which has experienced
>more than five such earthquakes. The most recent earthquake that took
>place on April 5, 1999 measured 5 on the Richter scale. The catastrophic
>
>1984 Silchar earthquake was well within the Surma basin, Nungma
>thrust, Ahu (Barak)-Makhu (Makru) thrust, etc. The fact that the dam
>rests on a fault line which is occupied by the river (Ahu) itself makes
>it prone to reactivation any time, causing vertical lateral displacement
>along the pre-existing faults and thrusts. This suggests that tremendous
>damages cannot be ruled out. A rock-filled dam upto a height of 162.80
>metres has not yet been attempted anywhere. Hence the dam’s
>structural design in the geologically unstable area is questionable and
>the project authorities must be held directly responsible for engineering
>such natural calamities.
>
>The earthquake at Uttarkashi hit the conscience of certain
>environmentally-committed engineers who immediately organised the
>National Convention of Environmental Engineers at Mangalore on October
>28-29, 1991. This convention passed a number of important resolutions
>two of which are as follows:
>
>(1) “Environmental Impact Appraisal of all major developmental projects
>such as industries, power plants and river projects should be made
>mandatory”.
>(2) “Environmental Impact Appraisal reports submitted by proponents of
>projects should be made public and public debate invited in the
>concerned regions”.
>
>Manipur also falls in one of the genetic hot spot zones of the world
>where rare biodiversity resources are found. The project will submerge the
>exotic and rare flora and fauna and rich gene pools. Instead of conducting an
>up to date survey, the project authorities simply refer to the early
>botanical survey record of the region (Flora of British India, 1872-1897) and
>maintain no record of plant gathering and animal hunting with reference
>to Tipaimukh project.
>
>In view of the above, the Naga Women Union, Manipur would like to
>appeal all the like-minded individuals, groups and organisations to
>please send airmail letters/telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/e-mails addressing
>the following issues:
>
>(1) The policy to control frequent flooding of the Cachar plain at the
>cost of the traditional dwellers of Tamenglong district, which will effect a
>permanent submergence of 275.50 sq km of land surface or more along
>the Barak basins is against the National Policy of Land Use.
>(2) The resolution of the National Convention of Environmental
>Engineers, Mangalore, 1991 that “that Environmental Impact Appraisal
>of all major
>projects should be made mandatory” which was supported by the
>statement of the president, K R Narayanan, made on the eve of the
>Republic Day “that the livelihood and unique culture of the tribals
>should be protected when development projects are undertaken in areas
>inhabited by them”.
>(3) Meaningful investigations into the flora and fauna of the area, the
>lifestyles and the socio-cultural and economic heritage of the people to
>be displaced and/or affected be undertaken.
>(4) All reports be made public and public debate on the issues involved
>be invited.
>(5) The proposed signing of the MoU between the government of Manipur
>and NEEPCO be stopped immediately until all feasibility reports are
>made available and all investigations in respect of the social,
>economic, cultural, geological, environmental and ecological impact
>on the people
>and the areas are carried out, completed and discussed in full
>knowledge, cooperation and participation of the local people, especially the
>Zeliangrong and the Hmar people whose lives are at stake.
>
>Aram Pamei
>Secretary, Naga Women’s Union, Manipur, Imphal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to majordomo@netvista.net
with no subject and the following text in the body of the message
"unsubscribe irn-narmada".
----- End of forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----