Opposition to Umngot project
JOWAI: Thousands of villagers residing near Umngot river are opposing a 240-MW hydro power plant proposed by Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited (MeECL) as they are sceptical about losing agriculture land.
The river divides West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills and flows towards Bangladesh via Dawki. MeECL wants to set up the plant to supply power to the neighbouring country.
However, residents of villages – Statah-Lyer, Pasang, Mynsang, Mawsang, Ksanrngi and Umsaw-war – as well as Shnongpdeng, Darrang and Dawki fear that their agriculture land will be drowned if a dam is constructed.
“If we allow the dam to come up, we will lose thousands of hectares of agriculture land. We have been protesting against the move of the state government since the beginning but it seems that the government is going ahead with its proposal and there is no one to help us,” said Mary Nongrum, a resident of Umsaw-war.
President of Umngot Farmers’ Association, Albinton Mukhim, said the Umngot Hydro Power Project will ruin the people’s lives in the area.
“All the landed property we inherited from our great grandparents will be lost and we will be left with no livelihood,” he said.
The three downstream villages are popular tourist destinations and the dam on the Umngot, which is one of the rivers unaffected by acid drainage from coal mines, will hit tourism and livelihood, locals said.
“The dam will not only affect the people of our seven villages but also the villagers residing downstream as well as in Bangladesh,” said Nongrum.
However, villages situated on the other side of the river (Sohmynting, Moosakhia and Samanong) have welcomed the proposed project.
