Dam affected people restless

Aizawl, May 06 (UNI) Affected people of the proposed Tipaimukh hydel project are running from pillar to post to get rehabilitation funds.

The proposed dam would be set up on the area of Manipur and Mizoram.

The affected people's association of Manipur and Mizoram had met Union Steel Minister Santosh Mohan Dev last year. The minister had forwarded the message of the people's plight to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The people have been demanding for a written agreement with the North East Electricity and Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and have submitted a memorandum to this effect, but their demand were still to be met with.

''We have met NEEPCO officials a number of times, they have verbally agreed to our demands. The present officials may be replaced with new ones, hence we prefer a written demand,'' affected people's leader Lalpekliana told UNI.

The people of both Manipur and Mizoram were against the hydel project. ''Since we cannot block it, we are demanding relief and rehabilitation, '' said Mr Lalpekliana.

The proposed dam will totally submerge 12 villages and will affect another 60 villages, while in Mizoram it will affect only 15-20 villages.

Large areas of forest and cultivable land in Manipur would be destroyed.

According to sources, the base of the proposed dam is under earthquake-prone zone.

Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe laid the foundation stone of the project on December 19 last.

''Since the affected people are backward farmers, they are facing financial and language problems fighting for their rigths,'' said an Aizawl-based human rights activist.

Meanwhile, Zoram Nationalist Party president and MLA of Ratu which included the affected villages in Mizoram, has slammed the Mizoram government for ''not paying interest'' to the proposed dam.

''I have not seen any initiatives from the Mizoram government.

Not a single official from the Mizoram government attended the laying of the foundation stone,'' he said.

UNI