S Singlianmang Guite
Lamka, Jul 19: The indefinite bandh called by Churachandpur District Students’ Union in the district was total on its first day as the streets wore a deserted look and local traders downed their shutters.
Monitored strictly by CDSU volunteers, the bandh period witnessed windshields of at least five passenger buses being shattered after it was stormed at the outskirt village of Kangvai. Barring some stray incidents of volunteers deflating cycle tyres, no untoward incident was reported at the time of filing this report.
Leaders of the student body have ruled out negotiation unless they practically see that the district quota of BPL and APL rice reach the district without any cutback. CDSU has been demanding the district quota of PDS rice without any percentage cut from underground outfits, and this has been hampered by shifting of the much needed rice as officials concerned were reluctant to release the supply without complying to alleged diktats of underground elements.
Two months’ quota of BPL and APL rice for three sub-divisions of the district and 20 percent of the June quota for all the six sub-divisions were still to arrive here despite deposit of necessary amount.
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In the shadow of the Tipaimukh Dam
By Salam Rajesh
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opened a whole new chapter in the long history of the ever controversial Ti-paimukh Dam, or should I say, the Tipaimukh Multipurpose Project? Indeed, the CBI report on the hitherto unknown darker side of the Brahmaputra Board has thrown open the doors to a new agenda for debate, albeit corruption in a major proportion.
The Tipaimukh project, whose seed was sown in the early part of the twentieth century AD during the British regime in India, has travelled a long way up and down the hill, literally speaking.
The project gained momentum in the 1950s when the then post-independent Government of India seriously took up the idea - first as a flood control mechanism in the Barak valley and later developing it into a multiple-use project with irrigation and hydropower gradually becoming components of the project.
Santosh Mohan Dev, the politician from Lower Assam, has always been seen as the man who has had zealously pursued the project despite rain and sun. Not surprisingly then, his name figures in the story of the CBI bust on the Brahmaputra Board scam.
Corruption is a term familiar to all in a country like democratic India, and it is not surprising that the employees of the Brahma-putra Board indulged in corruption given the fact that the Tipaimukh project is a multi-crore venture of the Government.
In today’s context, the Tipaimukh project’s coffer is a huge one with as much as rupees six thousand and more crores in the picking. Anyone can be tempted by such a huge sum.
Speaking of Dev, the reason for his ‘involvement’ is not far to seek. The Tipaimukh Dam is a subject very close to his heart. It is the basis of his survival in the political ar-ena. His one sole objective is to have the dam built at all cost and by any means - whether straight or crook-ed. His reported intervention to retrieve the fallen anti-hero of Brahmaputra Board, its Silchar Division’s assistant engineer Rafiq Uddin Bor -Laskar - who was implicated by the CBI for illegal possession of an unaccounted Rs. 70 lakhs stored at his residence - creates doubt on the accountability of a po-litician who is at the helms of power in New Delhi.
An intriguing part of the story on the Brahma-putra Board scam is the appointment of the main accused, executive engineer Gaya Prasad Singh as Brahmaputra Board’s Chief Vigilance Officer during the period of CBI investigation between 2002 and 2006. Wonders never cea-se!
In the wake of the CBI disclosure, it has become all the more necessary for the Brahmaputra Board to come out with a white paper on all of its activities vis-a-vis the pre-construction processes taken up for the Tipaimukh project. So far, there has had been no public disclosure on its spendings on the Tipai-mukh front, nor was there any serious attempts by the Board to consult the public on the prospects and outcome of the pro-ject.
In fact, during a seminar at the Manipur University some time back, quite a few thick volumes of the project’s survey report that was done by the Delhi-based WAPCOS (Water and Power Consultancy Services Ltd.) was placed for public viewing. A quick flippings of the volumes easily revealed that the report was done primarily on table, for there were hundreds of errors - grammatically and factually. It was apparent that the report was only a compilation of information collected from a few offices without actually visiting the field. Of course, those volumes were rejected and the NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd.) was asked to do a new survey report.
NEEPCO, which replaced the Brahmaputra Board at a later stage, now has a double responsibility. Firstly, to come clean on its activities so far after taking over from the Brah-maputra Board. Secondly, to ensure that there is a participation from the public on the processes of consultation, such as review of the survey report and the detailed project report.
It has often been argued that the project implementors do not have a mind to share basic information on the multi-crore Tipaimukh project, for reasons best known to them. Perhaps, the Brahmaputra Board scam is an indication of what might surface in the coming days, given the nature of secrecy the NEEPCO maintains at all front.
Transparency is a term which is hard to come by in a place like Manipur. NEEPCO had also taken advantage of the situation prevalent here. It can safe-ly be said that there is absolutely no transparency in its activities. This is evident when it refuses to divulge information on the project.
The provisions of the Right to Information Act which allows the public to access information from Government offices, seem to take a backseat when NEEPCO officials are not ready to hand out information in a very friendly manner. As the writer is aware, information from NEEP-CO’s office is obtained after much pursuance and patience on the part of the information seeker.
Proper and adequate divulgence of information by project proponents is a must if the projects are to serve their purposes in the true sense of the word.
For the general public it is not easy to obtain the required information from the project proponents. However, for an agency like the CBI, it would be no mean task to get the right information. Talking of the Tipaimukh project, it is quite a task to obtain the basic information since the primary office of NEEPCO is located at Shillong. Its Imphal office is just a front, with no real responsibility in information sharing.
Perhaps the Brahma- putra Board scam is an eye opener. NEEPCO may end up with a similar sorry picture unless it is committed to ‘transparency’. But, the way it had functioned in the recent past, it is doubtful whether NEEPCO respects ‘transparency’. Ta-ke for instance, the example of how it had tried to manipulate the public hear-ings for the Tipaimukh project that was held at Churachandpur and Tame- nglong district headquarters recently. Or, for that matter, how it had tried to manipulate a seminar held at Tamenglong district he-adquarters into a consensus signature campaign for the project from the local village chiefs. Or, the manner how it had clinched an MoU for the project taking advantage of a President’s rule in Manipur without a process of public consultation. There are indications that NEEPCO officials might have tried to lobby for the project under the table. This is where an agency like the CBI can bring things to light.
