Alongside the border of India, Myanmar is constructing a dam across the Twigem River and because of this, a wave of fears about water scarcity among border villagers in Kengjoi subdivision of Manipur’s Chandel district exists and villagers are truly worried about submergence. As this dam is barely 100 metres from the zero line separating Myanmar and India, residents of Khangtung village are in true fear of possible disasters. They reported to district officials about this dam. As per International rules, this should be a No Man’s Land. Tuidimjang dam of Myanmar should not be in the decided 150 meter strip on the side of a boundary line.
Chandel Deputy Commissioner K. Krishna told that villagers have sent photos and raised their concern. Although this dam appears to be a small one, yet the fear of the villagers is genuine. We will report this to New Delhi along with the State government. We are sending our survey team to the construction site to get the exact coordinates.
Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) secretary in Chandel, Houkholen Haokip raised this concern and doubted over the possible assistance of China to Myanmar in the construction of this dam. He said, “If this newly build dam comes up then Indian villages will be submerged. The villagers from nearby areas are already facing water scarcity. We tried to contact concerned officials in Myanmar too. But, all those efforts have been in vain.” Houkholen Haokip further added that TSA has also written to Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren and requested for immediate intervention.
TSA secretary general Michael Lamjathang Haokip said that we have also added in the letter to Mr. Biren that the entire Khangtung village will be inundated as soon as this dam is completed. This project of Myanmar is going to give huge negative impact on the residents of Khangtung and these villagers will face massive miseries and perhaps require relocation to some other place.
People in Manipur have faced massive miseries with internal dams too. In June 2015, Chadong village of the Ukhrul district was submerged because of Mapithel dam on river Thoubal. Thoubal Multipurpose Project made a disaster for 800-odd villagers. That submergence made villagers suffered in such a way that they are still searching for a proper relocation site. That project was started to irrigate 21,862 hectares of land and to produce 7.5MW of power. It was supposed that this dam will provide 10 million gallons of drinking water. The project was begun in 1989. However, the government had failed to provide proper rehabilitation to villagers.
Controversy has also dogged Tipaimukh project proposed on river Barak in Manipur 35 years ago. Dhaka is against this project. Three anti-dam organisations in Manipur and downstream Assam have been protesting against this Tipaimukh project. Apart from large-scale submergence, they fear ecological degradation, if the dam is built.
The Khuga dam has hit turbulence too. This one is in the south of Manipur’s Churachandpur town.  Planning Commission said to face some inherent flaws in this project. As a result, the power component of 1.5MW incorporated in the initial design was scrapped despite near-completion of a powerhouse. Cost escalation is also a big issue in this project. From the initial cost of Rs. 15 crores in 1980 to Rs. 381.29 crore in 2009.