SHILLONG: A social impact assessment by North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), which is executing the Mawphu Stage-II Hydro Electric Power Project, will give a clear picture about locals’ support, the company has said.
“Written consent of each land owner has to be taken. As per the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, if 70 per cent of the landowners show their support then NEEPCO can go ahead with the project,” N.K Mao, General Manager of NEEPCO, told reporters on Tuesday.
A section of the villagers is opposing the Mawphu project saying 93 hectares of arable land at Thieddieng village will be affected.
However, traditional heads in the area are supporting the project and recently a group of women too came out in support.
Mao said the total area of 110 hectare meant for the project is preliminary and not exact.
“We will wait for the Land and Revenue Department to make a plot-to-plot assessment and then we will know the exact figure of how many people are affected and land which can be more or less,” he said. The compensation for land to be paid to villagers will be based on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, Mao said.
He added that a major portion of the land will be from Thieddieng and it is up to the State Government to change the name of the project or not.
The committee of traditional heads had said the name of the project should be Kongkhen river HEP and not Mawphu since the river is the common entity of the villages falling under the project — Thieddieng, Mawphu, Umblai and Nongsteng.
The 85-MW hydro electric project is proposed as a run-of-the-river scheme on the Umiew in East Khasi Hills and will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,042 crore.
