Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network
Imphal, September 28 2009:
Manipur villagers have apprised their woes to the state government in the wake of a multipurpose project implentation.
A memorandum was submitted to the chief minister of Manipur on Monday for final settlement of the unaddressed public grievances caused by construction of Thoubal Multipurpose Project at Phaiyang village, Ukhrul district.
The memorandum was submitted by the Phaiyang village authority on behalf of the 47 displaced families of Phaiyang village.
Historically, the villagers were totally opposed to the idea of the dam construction as it meant displacement and submergence of their village and the lands they had toiled and worked on since their forefathers' time, stated the memorandum.
But the might of the government prevailed and the construction of the dam got underway, compelling the villagers to receive the meager sum of money doled out as compensation for their lands and shift to nearby villages out of sheer desperation and for want of land for cultivation, it stated.
The village was burnt and razed to the ground on May 27 1993 in the Kuki-Naga clash forcing the handful of people who had stayed back in the village to abandon it, the memorandum continued.
With no adequate rehabilitation coming forth from the government, the villagers of Phaiyang continued to live in utter penury with no paddy land to cultivate and feed their families, and so on February 14 2006 some families went back and resettled in the village in protest against the government's apathy to provide relief and rehabilitation, the memorandum stated.
However, they were met with force and their houses were demolished by the government, who used everything at its disposal to crush the will of the simple villagers, violating their rights, displacing and victimizing them, stated the memorandum.
The memorandum drew the attention of the chief minister to the fact that no other village had suffered as much as Phaiyang village, as all other villages are fortunate enough to forfeit only small fractions of lands while 100% of the lands of Phaiyang village are completely submerged by the dam.
Appealing for justice to the people of Phaiyang village, the memorandum put up a 'charter of demands' to be taken into consideration for the successful completion of the multipurpose project.