New Delhi, Dec. 8: Indigenous communities of Chandel district in Manipur and Sagaing division of Myanmar stood up for a common cause here today — to prevent formation of a reservoir the size of Delhi on the Chindwin river in Myanmar.
“Stop damming Chindwin, go back NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation),” shouted Jaw-Jaw, a Myanmarese refugee living in the capital.
The protest organised by Kuki tribals straddling the international border was small but the timing has caused consternation among strategists in Delhi. The protests come close on heels of the forced withdrawal of the Chinese from building a project in northern Myanmar — a loss of Rs 3 billion besides a loss of face for Beijing.
The military government at Naypyitaw together with the government of India is building a hydroelectric dam near Tamanthi on the Chindwin in northwest Myanmar’s Sagaing division.
“If Tamanthi is constructed, the flood reservoir will be almost 1,400 square km, the size of Delhi, and will permanently displace over 45,000 people,” claim activists. Delhi is nearly 1,500 square km.
Over 2,000 villagers from Leivomjang (Kuki village) and Tazone were allegedly forcefully relocated to a new site.
A booklet titled Stop damming the Chindwin tries to show how the Tamanthi dam will impact villagers.
“We had protested in 2005, after that work stopped. Now it has started again. We want villagers to be allowed to live in their old villages as the new ones are unhealthy,” said Nga Ngai, general secretary of the Kuki Women’s Human Rights Organisation.
Ngai and another women’s leader from Moreh, Hatkhochin Kuki, were behind their Myanmar brethren asking for withdrawal of the project. Ngai said the Kuki villages were not affected by the dam but they wanted to show solidarity.a
