Tipaimukh meet ignores neighbour’s need

A high level meeting on Wednesday last attended by the officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Power and National Hydro Power Co-operation Ltd under the chair of the Manipur Chief Minister, O Ibobi discussed on the proposed construction of controversial Tipaimukh Power Project in Manipur, Hueiyen News Service reported.
The high ranking officers of various central organisations has discussed on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the joint venture agreement between state-owned hydro power producers NHPC Ltd and Satluj Jal
Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) and the Government of Manipur to develop Tipaimukh power project in Manipur, said an official of the state government.
Director of MHA, RR Jah (NE-2), joint secretary (Hydro) SK Jain, chief engineer of NHPC Ltd, Manipur Chief Secretary, DGP were among the officials present in the meeting held at 5 PM of Wednesday, the source added.
The meeting held at the official bungalow of the state Chief Minister under the chair of the Chief Minister, O Ibobi discussed on the Rs 8,138-crore project with the hurdle ahead of the project cleared when Mizoram state gave its consent in the last power summit held in Imphal.
Earlier, the meeting was scheduled to be held on February 4, but it was postponed again on February 8 and then finally held Wednesday.
The environmental clearance to be given by the Mizoram government to the development of the project located at the border with the state was pending for the last many years since Centre sanctioned funds for the project to the Manipur government under PM Package of 2004.
The meeting prominently discussed on the deployment of security in the areas where the project is to be developed as joint venture undertaking by hydro power producers NHPC Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) and the Government of Manipur.
The agreement is likely to be signed by the end of this financial year, said an official of the state government.
In the joint venture project, NHPC would hold a majority 69 per cent stake in the project, while SJVN would take up another 26 per cent stake.
The remaining 5 per cent would go in favour of the Manipur government.
The Union home ministry has already approved an outlay of Rs 300 crore on the project’s security, apart from agreeing to release Rs 203 crore for the construction of a highway which would escalate the project cost to at least Rs 1,000 crore with the additional investment required for security and transport infrastructure to be developed.
Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed hydro-electric project, to be built on the river Barak in Manipur state.
The project has sparked off controversy as India has unilaterally planned to build the dam just 100 km off the Bangladesh border and is likely to affect two major rivers of Bangladesh, namely the Surma and the Kushiara and another 60,000 Manipuri people who depend on the river for livelihood and other activities.
The Sinlung Indigenous People Human Rights Organisation (SIPHRO) said, “The process for choosing it (the project premises) ignored both the indigenous people and the recommendations of the WCD (World Commission on Dams)”.
The dam will be 390m long and 162.8m high, across the Barak River, 500m downstream of the confluence of the Tuivai and the Barak on the Manipur-Mizoram border.
The dam will be at an altitude of about 180m above mean sea level with a maximum reservoir level of 178m. The project will have an installation capacity of 1500 MW and a firm generation of 412 MW.
The dam will permanently submerge an area of 275.50 square kilometres.
The exact location is 24°1″N and 93° 1″E. Majority Bangladeshis are in anticipated fear of the probable damage that may be created if the dam is launched.
The Tipaimukh area lies in an ecologically sensitive and topographically fragile region.
It falls under one of the most seismically volatile regions on the planet.
A major earthquake rocked Manipur-Myanmar border on August 06, 1988 at the epicentre of lat.

Courtesy of The New Nation