By Our Reporter
press conference in the city on Friday. (ST)
Opposition to Umngot Hydro Electric Project
SHILLONG: The proposed 240 MW Umngot Hydro Electric Project has hit a roadblock with local villagers and opposing the project saying that the compensation for their land was grossly inadequate.
Terming the project as anti-people, the residents of several villages (Umsaw, Pashang, Mawsir, Kransngi, Mawdulop and Mynsang) who areas lay in the upper stream of the project have said that their agricultural land would be submerged and they would become landless once the project takes off.
“We are against the project because we don’t have any land to give to the Government. The only land we have is being used for agricultural purposes from where we earn our livelihood,” Albinton Mukhim, who was leading the villagers, told reporters here on Friday.
Mukhim said the Government had assured a compensation of Rs 4.9 lakh per hectare to those farmers whose land would be affected by the power project.
However, the farmers have rejected the offer of the State Government stating that they earn around Rs one lakh annually from their agricultural produces.
“The amount offered by the Government to us would not last even our lifetime but if we have our land even our future generations can survive,” Dlansing Suting of Umsaw village stated.
Incidentally, while the project is being opposed by villagers in East Khasi Hills, people in Jainta Hills district have welcomed it.
Meanwhile, P Thangkhiew an anti-dam activist stated that the speeches given by the speakers during the public hearing held on April 24 at Siangkhnai village in East Khasi Hills district had been wrongly interpreted (paraphrased) by the MeECL.
According to Thangkhiew the draft final report prepared by the MeECL on the Umngot power project stated that there are 228 households which are going to be affected by the project. However, the villagers are claiming that a significantly greater number of households would be affected due to the project.
The Umngot Hydro Electric Project will cover an area of 390 hectares straddling both Jaintia hills and East Khasi Hills districts and will be implemented by the MeECL over a period of five years.