Imphal, August 19 2010: Consequent upon acquisition of land by the SPF Government for development projects, one village is staring at the stark reality of extinction.

A reliable source said that village number 80 Yurembam of Imphal West district would disappear completely if there is any further acquisition of land for the railway project.

Already large areas of the same village were taken over by the government during 1985-86 for construction of 132 KV power sub-station and staff quarters of the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) .

Recently, around 25.8 acres of land belonging to the village were also acquired by the Government for upgrading the present 132 KV power sub-station to 400 KV capacity in order to facilitate import of power from other NE States.

For the ongoing railway project which has been categorised as a National Project, connecting Jiribam to Tupul by railway in the first phase before extending it up to Imphal in the second phase, the Imphal station would be built at Malom.

Survey work for the rail track from Tupul to Malom has been already completed.

As per the survey report, the railway line would pass through Yurembam.

In the event of locating the railway station at Malom, large tracts of land would have to be acquired from Yurembam which would mean total disappearance of the village.

Though it is for modernisation/development purposes, there are certain reservations over the future of Yurembam.

However till date, the Govt has not taken any definite decision whether to acquire more land from Yurembam for the railway project or not.

However, if the Government decides to spare Yurembam, it would require re-alignment of the railway line from Tupul to Imphal though survey work for the same has been already completed.

At Malom too, the State Government has made necessary arrangements to give land to the IOC for setting up a rail-fed oil depot. So far, the SPF Government has evicted and acquired large settlement areas and agricultural lands for various development programmes, the most prominent being the setting up of NIT, Capitol Project, Inter-State Bus Terminus, City convention Centre, Manipur University, Airport expansion and expansion of NH-39 from Moirangkhom to Singjamei.

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