The All Loktak Lake Areas Fishers' Union, Manipur (ALLAFUM) has strongly condemned the arbitrary move of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) for seeking the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, an approval to lease fresh life to the Loktak Hydroelectric Power Project (Loktak Hydroelectric Multipurpose Project) for another 25 years without taking into confidence the concerns of Manipur Government and the thousands of fishermen and farmers' families affected by the Loktak hydro project since its commissioning in 1983.
The Union has called upon the Government of Manipur to redress the grievances of the affected people before any move to further extend the Loktak hydro project, or not to allow NHPC to freely extend the project's lifespan without taking the people's concerns into confidence.
ALLAFUM also questioned the motive of NHPC by not informing the Loktak Development Authority, the Manipur Government and the Loktak fishing community as primary stakeholders for placing before the Centre on furthering the productivity lifespan of Loktak Project without firstly addressing the four decades of ecological and human disasters due to the functioning of the man-made structure of Ithai Barrage, which has been the bone of contention between the project managers and the people of Manipur for nearly forty years now.
"NHPC must clarify its stand to the people of Manipur on how it proposes to rehabilitate and resettle the thousands of human population impacted by the project, and how it proposes to bring back the near natural status of the freshwater lake which is now termed as 'ageing rapidly' due to the human-led engineering intervention by the project manager," the Union said.
ALLAFUM has made its stand clear that unless NHPC clarifies on the aforementioned issues, it cannot go ahead with its plans to lease new life to the destructive Loktak hydro project.
The Hills Journal
K. Salbung, Churachandpur
Manipur-795128
