Support Rights of Manipur Communities Threatened with Forced Relocation

By: 
Kate Ross

Update: On Friday November 2nd, the villagers of Chadong held a rally, despite government enforced curfews, to protest against the threats of forced eviction and relocation. The Asian American Human Rights Commission has also issued an urgent appeal demanding immediate intervention from authorities in India, to stop the activities of the Joint Verification Team.

Protest by villagers in Chadong
Protest by villagers in Chadong
Photo courtesy of Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur

The Government of Manipur is threatening to forcefully evict and relocate the villagers of Chadong and Lamlai Khullen in the Ukhrul District of Manipur, Northeast India, to make way for the Mapithel Dam.

On the 28th of September, 2012 the government of Manipur issued an order constituting a “Joint Verification Team” comprised of officials from the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, the Deputy Commissioner of Ukhrul District, and the Tribal Department of the government of Manipur to identify families affected by ongoing construction of the Mapithel Dam in the villages of Chadong and Lamlai Khunou. The order is problematic and worrying as it undermines an earlier order by the same government, which formed an Expert Review Committee in 2008. The role of the Committee was to assess the socio-economic, environmental, cultural and human rights impacts of the Mapithel Dam and also to address the rehabilitation and resettlement of affected communities.

Police in Chadong village as part of the forced verification order
Police in Chadong village as part of the forced verification order
Photo courtesy of Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur

The formation of the Expert Review Committee gave communities hope that the impacts of the Mapithel Dam would be fully reviewed to address their own opinions and to ensure social and environmental justice. However, there is concern that the most recent order is an attempt to silence the voices of affected communities who are demanding a holistic impact assessment and that once the verification is completed, it will lead to forceful eviction and involuntary relocation of these villages.

Forced Verification of Villagers in Chadong, India
Forced Verification of Villagers in Chadong, India
Photo courtesy of Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur

Despite strong objections and protests by affected communities, the forced verification of the villages of Chadong and Lamlai Khullen began on October 29th, and was accompanied by heavy military deployment. The militarization of Mapithel Dam construction has been condemned widely; The UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous peoples, Mr. James Anaya, expressed strong reservation and outlined that the deployment of security forces in the Mapithel Dam site area resulted in the intimidation of affected communities and the suppression of their democratic demands.

Affected villagers who have protested the dam have been subjected to threats and harassments. In November 2008, more than 40 people protesting against the impacts of the Mapithel Dam were brutality tortured by the Indian Reserve Battalion.

Construction on the Mapithel Dam
Construction on the Mapithel Dam
Photo courtesy of Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur

The controversial Mapithel Dam is being built on the Thoubal River, in Manipur, Northeast India. Construction on the project began in 1978, without any consultation with communities who would be affected and with no detailed health, environmental, social, cultural, economic or seismic impact assessments.

The project would flood a huge tract of prime agricultural land along the Thoubal River; it would create severe water shortage and irreversibly impact the livelihood of villages both upstream and downstream of the dam.

Stop the Mapithel Dam, villagers hold a protest in Chadong
Stop the Mapithel Dam, villagers hold a protest in Chadong
Photo courtesy of Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur

In response to the order for forced verification, The Mapithel Dam Affected Villagers Organization and the Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur are calling for urgent action from partners and allies around the world.