SIPHRO

To,

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Hon’ble Prime Minister
Government of India
New Delhi

Subject: Stop Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project

Sir,

The proposed Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project conceived to generate 1500 MW of hydro electric power by damming the two rivers of life – Tuiruong (Barak) and Tuivai – in Churachandpur district, Manipur, is being doggedly pursued without considering the consent of the indigenous peoples who are severely threatened by the project.

On July 28, 2008, the Government of Manipur passed a resolution to militarise the mega dam site by deploying Central and State security forces and opening of security posts at seven kilometre intervals along the 99 km stretch of Mon Bahadur road in Manipur for movement of materials required for the construction of the controversial dam. The indigenous peoples strongly opposed the ongoing militarisation on their land.

Moreover, the absence of any democratic process while pursuing the proposed project is also reflected in the public hearing. The “public hearings” that were supposedly held were conducted under official armed surveillance with hand-picked participants who were promised with jobs, compensation and contracts. There was no free, prior and informed consent of the people who would be affected. The staged public hearings violates the national and international environmental, developmental and human rights protocols and every democratic norms.

Today, on September 18, 2008, the Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydro Electric Projects of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is meeting at New Delhi to issue Environmental Clearance for the Tipaimukh Mega Dam project. Such act, pursued without consulting the affected peoples, is unconstitutional and undemocratic. It may also be mentioned that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nations), in its letter dated August 15, 2008 re-questioned “the imminent construction of the mega dam in Tipaimukh without free, prior and informed consent of the affected communities that endangers their traditional lifestyles.”

Since the inception of the project, the insensitive approach of the Government of Manipur and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) to forcefully build the mega dam over the rivers of life has been strongly resented by the indigenous people in Manipur.

In the interest of the indigenous people, our land, our rights, our existence, our dignity, our culture and identity, and our continuity and future as a people, who, otherwise, are threatened by the proposed project, Sinlung Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights Organisation (SIPHRO) and Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights, Delhi (NPMHR) appeals for your intervention to:

1. Withdraw and stop militarisation and all efforts to ruin indigenous peoples’ lives and their land by constructing the proposed Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project in Churachandpur district, Manipur.

2. Stop the government of Manipur and NEEPCO from annexing indigenous peoples land and rivers in Tipaimukh.

3. Stop the Government of Manipur and NEEPCO from further denying indigenous peoples of their rights and dignity.

4. Stop the State as well as Non-State Actors from intervening in indigenous peoples land in the name of development, which is both anti-people and anti-human.

5. Stop the MoEF from issuing the Environmental Clearance, which would inevitably empower the Government of Manipur and NEEPCO to negate indigenous peoples of their rights and their land and forests.

Sincerely,

(LALREMLIEN NEITHAM)
Secretary
SIPHRO

(NINGREICHON TUNGSHANG)
Convenor
NPMHR (Delhi)

Dated: September 18, 2008

Copy to:
1. Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF), Govt. of India.
2. Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India.
3. Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (mDoNER), Govt. of India.
4. Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India.
5. Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley & Hydro Electric Projects.
6. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, OHCHR-UNOG.